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The  Jumel  Mansion 


W ashington  at  Forty-Four 

From  a  portrait  by  Trumbull 


The 

J    U    M    E    L 

i^lansion 


Being  a  full  History  of  the  House  on  Harlem 
Heights  built  by  Roger  Morris  before  the 
Revolution. 

Together  with  some  account  of  its  more 
notable  occupants.      With  Illustrations. 

By  William  Henry  Shelton 

'Boston  &  New  Tori 
Houghton   Mifflin   Company 

QTbe  Ett)erEit1]e  ^rees  C-ambriUse 
Mdccccxvi 


COPYRIGHT,     1916,    BY    WILLIAM    HENRY    SHELTON 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


Published  December  igi6 


Foreword 

U 

The  purpose  of  the  author  in  writing  this  book  is,  not  only  to 
trace  the  rise  and  fall  of  a  famous  house,  but  to  separate  the 
facts  from  the  fables  in  its  history  and  in  the  history  of  events 
that  touch  the  house. 

At  the  period  of  the  American  Revolution  there  was  but 
little  education  among  the  common  people.  Copies  of  company 
rosters  show  that  a  surprising  percentage  of  the  rank  and  file, 
even  in  the  New  England  regiments,  signed  their  names  with  a 
cross,  and  of  course  a  still  larger  number  were  unable  to  read. 
Official  orders  signed  by  field  officers  were  sometimes  marvels 
of  illiteracy.  There  were  few  books,  and  these  were  mostly  reli- 
gious books,  and  books  containing  stories  for  the  young,  which, 
if  not  true,  the  authors  had  a  prayerful  conviction  ought  to 
be  true.  Such  conditions  were  not  very  promising  for  accu- 
racy in  history.  Newspapers  were  few,  and  in  them  little  space 
was  given  to  local  happenings,  as  something  quite  too  trivial 
for  public  notice.  These  papers  during  colonial  times,  imita- 
ting the  heavy  English  gazettes,  gave  most  of  their  space  to 
Parliamentary  debates  and  shipping  news,  and  where  they 
have  been  preserved  in  the  public  libraries,  there  is  scant  re- 
ward for  the  searcher  after  facts  to  rectify  the  loose  history  of 
that  day. 

In  the  years  that  followed  the  Revolution  books  were  written 
for  the  young  with  pious  fervor,  like  the  Life  of  Washington, 
by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Weems,  or  with  patriotic  fervor,  like  the 
Life  of  Nathan  Hale,  by  I.  W.  Stewart. 

Last  year,  1915,  was  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  the  building  of  the  house.  The  first  mistress  of  the 
house  was  Mary  Philipse,  its  most  distinguished  occupant  was 
George  Washington,  and  the  longest  period  of  ownership  was 
that  of  the  Jumels.    It  was  the  headquarters  of  Lieutenant- 

General 


To  separate 
the  facts  from 
the  fables 


The  one 
hundred  and 
fiftieth 
anniversary 
of  the  house 


2()pr:f'.'':fi 


VI 


Foreword 


Fantastic 
imaginings 
of  a  craxy 
woman 


From  the 
records  of  a 
famous  case 


General  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  commanding  the  British  army  in 
America,  in  1777,  and  the  house  continued  to  be  occupied  by 
British  officers  until  peace  was  declared.  Under  its  roof  a  Brit- 
ish Admiral  was  born,  a  President  of  the  United  States  en- 
tertained his  Cabinet,  a  former  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  was  married,  and  a  woman  died,  whose  history,  as  it 
appears  in  magazines  and  newspapers,  contains  but  one  fact, 
the  fact  that  she  married  Aaron  Burr. 

The  accepted  story  of  Madame  Jumel  is  made  up  from  the 
fantastic  imaginings  of  a  crazy  woman,  who  had  sought  all  her 
life  for  social  recognition,  without  success  in  America,  and 
whose  reputed  triumphs  were  largely  the  dreams  of  a  disordered 
mind.  Her  story  is  here  told  for  the  first  time,  with  no  desire 
to  expose  a  family  skeleton,  but  as  a  part  of  the  evolution  of 
an  historical  house  which  drifted  upon  degenerate  days. 

The  facts  of  the  birth  and  early  history  of  Betsy  Bowen  are 
taken  from  the  town  records  of  the  village  of  Providence, 
brought  as  evidence  in  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  in 
a  famous  case,  whose  official  record  is  in  the  Congressional 
Library  at  Washington. 

September,  19 16. 


Table  of  Contents 

\ 

Foreword v 

I.  The  House i 

II.  The  Man  who  Built  the  House 13 

III.  When  Washington  came  to  the  House 24 

IV.  The  Great  Fire  in  New  York  City 41 

V.  Nathan  Hale 55 

VI.  Events  from  Day  to  Day 67 

VII.  Early  Military  Occupation 88 

VIII.  Courts  Martial 95 

IX.  The  Convention 102 

X.  The  Capture  OF  the  House 114 

XI.  The  British  Period 128 

XII.  Betsy  Bowen         138 

XIII.  Madame  Jumel 147 

XIV.  Back  in  the  Mansion 159 

XV.  Madame  Burr 170 

XVI.  The  Beginning  of  the  End 181 

XVII.  A  Mad-House 186 

XVIII.  The  Jumel  Fables 198 

XIX.  Invoking  the  Law 203 

XX.  George  Washington  Bowen 213 

Afterword 223 

Appendix 231 

A.  Text  of  the  Carroll  Deed  of  1763 233 

B.  The  Marriage  Settlement  of  Mary  Philipse    .      .      .  238 
Index 243 


List  of  Illustrations 


Washington  at  Forty-Four,  by  John  Trumbull 


Frontispiece 


From  a  portrait  attributed  to  Trumbull  in  the  William  Lanier  Washington  Collection  and 
now  hanging  in  the  dining-room  of  the  Mansion.  Attached  to  the  canvas  is  the  studio  card 
of  "Colo.  Trumbull  406  Broadway,"  written  by  himself.  The  picture  is  evidently  a  repro- 
duction of  the  head  of  his  Washington  at  Trenton  with  the  addition  of  the  cocked  hat.  It 
shows  Washington  as  he  appeared  at  the  time  of  his  occupancy  of  the  Morris  house. 


Roger  Morris's  Bookplate i 

Reproduced  by  permission  of  Amherst  Morris,  Esq.,  of  Cheltenham,  England. 

The  House,  Front  View 2 

Ground  Plans  of  the  First  and  Second  Floors,  Attic,  and  Basement       6 

During  General  Washington's  occupancy  the  great  drawing-room  was  reserved  for  the 
courts  martial  of  the  line.  The  reception  room  was  the  Adjutant-General's  office,  and  the 
small  room  behind  it  was  the  guard-room.  The  southeast  chamber  having  a  dressing-room 
opening  from  it  was  Washington's  bedroom.  It  is  probable  that  the  rear  chamber  was  used 
by  Washington  and  his  secretaries  as  a  private  office.  The  third-floor  plan  shows  a  hall  and 
three  half-story  rooms,  with  a  -border  of  garret,  under  the  eaves,  extending  around  the 
entire  floor  with  eleven  low  doors  opening  into  it.  The  plan  of  the  basement  shows  the  great 
kitchen,  20  by  30  feet,  and  the  laundry  opening  from  it.  Just  what  the  other  rooms  were  used 
for  is  uncertain.  The  plans  were  drawn  by  Mr.  Joseph  Palle,  Architect. 


The  House  in  1887,  when  it  was  bought  by  Speculators 


10 


Roger  Morris,  who  built  the  House 14 

From  the  portrait  by  Benjamin  West,  P.R.A.,  in  the  possession  of  Amherst  Morris,  Esq., 
of  Cheltenham,  England. 

Mary   Philipse,   for   whom   Washington   entertained  a  "Sincere 
Regard"  and  who  became  Mrs.  Morris 16 

From  an  engraving  by  H.  B.  Hall  after  the  original  picture  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
Frederick  Philipse,  Esq. 

Mrs.  Roger  Morris 20 

From  the  portrait  by  Copley  in  the  possession  of  Amherst  Morris,  Esq.  Photographs  of 
this  portrait  and  that  of  Roger  Morris  were  sent  to  the  Museum  in  the  mansion  by  Herbert 
Morris  Bower,  Esq.,  Mayor  of  Ripon,  Yorkshire,  England. 


X  List  of  Illustrations 

Admiral  Henry  Gage  Morris,  Son  of  Roger  Morris 22 

From  a  portrait  in  the  possession  of  Amherst  Morris,  Esq. 

George  Washington,  by  Charles  Wilson  Peale 28 

From  a  portrait  painted  by  Peale  in  1 791  for  Colonel  John  Custis  Wilson  and  now  owned 
by  Colonel  Oswald  Tilghman,  of  Maryland.  It  is  identical  with  the  Peale  portrait  owned 
by  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  which  was  painted  five  years  later.  The  spot  on  the 
cheek  is  described  by  Peale  as  caused  by  an  ulcerated  tooth.  The  same  scar  shows  in  the 
Gibbs-Channing-Avery  portrait. 

The  First  American  Flag  and  the  Evolution  of  the  Flag  ...    36 

The  flag  bearing  the  Union  Jack  with  the  thirteen  stripes  was  used  from  the  beginning  of 
the  Revolution  till  June  14,  1777. 

The  New  York  Fire  of  1776 52 

From  the  contemporary  Augsbourg  print,  one  of  the  "Collection  des  Prospects"  for  the 
magic  lantern. 

Hannah  Adams,  who  first  published  the  Story  of  Nathan  Hale       .    56 

From  an  old  lithograph  by  Pendleton,  Boston,  after  the  portrait  by  Chester  Harding. 

The  Capture  of  Nathan  Hale  at  Huntington,  Long  Island  ...    64 

From  a  lithograph  by  E.  B.  &  E.  C.  Kellogg,  after  a  drawing  by  J.  Ropes  for  the  Lije  oj 
Nathan  Hale,  by  Isaac  W.  Stewart,  1856. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Tench  Tilghman,  Aide-de-Camp  to  Washington, 
1776-1782 76 

Tilghman  served  as  a  volunteer  aide  on  the  staff,  refusing,  like  his  chief,  to  accept  pay. 
Though  having  at  first  the  lowest  rank  on  the  staff,  which  he  joined  as  lieutenant,  he  was  a 
favorite  of  Washington,  usually  accompanying  him  on  horseback.  He  was  in  business  in 
Philadelphia  when  the  war  began,  but  belonged  to  the  Maryland  family. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Samuel  Blatchley  Webb,  Aide-de-Camp       .      .    80 

He  came  from  Connecticut  and  was  afterwards  colonel  of  a  Connecticut  regiment. 

Dr.  John  Morgan,  Medical  Officer  on  the  Staff 80 

Dr.  Morgan,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  a  civilian  with  the  title  of  "Director  of  Hospitals." 

Colonel  Joseph  Reed,  Adjutant-General 80 

Colonel  Reed,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  Washington's  Military  Secretary  in  1775  and 
Adjutant-General  on  the  staff  in  1776. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Robert  Hanson  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  Mili- 
tary Secretary  to  General  Washington 80 

British  Map  showing  Movement  to  White  Plains 90 

From  the  plan  engraved  for  C.  Stedman's  History  of  the  American  War,  London,  1794. 


List  of  Illustrations  xi 

View  of  New  York  in  1761 98 

From  the  London  Magazine,  1761.  The  sloop  at  the  extreme  right,  according  to  a  legend 
on  the  original,  is  "  Colonel  Morris's  Fancy,  turning  to  Windward  with  a  Sloop  of  Common 
Mould." 

Sauthier's  Map  of  the  North  Part  of  New  York  Island       .      .      .  120 

From  the  map  by  Claude  Joseph  Sauthier  published  in  1777.  Surveyed  "immediately 
after"  November  16,  1776,  it  shows  Colonel  Morris's  house  and  the  Heights  as  Washington 
had  left  them  three  weeks  before. 

Sir  Henry  Clinton 128 

From  a  portrait  by  J.  Smart,  engraved  by  F.  Bartalozzi  and  published  in  London,  1780. 

The  Golden  Ball  Inn,  Providence 144 

Madame  de  la  Croix  (Betsy  Bowen),  who  became  Madame  Jumel     .  148 

From  Saint-Memin's  reduction  of  his  original  crayon,  1797.  This  is  the  portrait  of 
Madame  Jumel  at  twenty-two. 

Mortuary  Letter  sent  to  Monsieur  and  Madame  Jumel  on  the 
Death  of  Comte  Henri  Tascher  de  la  Pagerie 154 

From  the  original. 

Aaron  Burr,  who  married  Madame  Jumel  in  1833 172 

From  a  woodcut  after  the  painting  by  Vanderlyn. 

Madame  Jumel  at  about  the  Time  of  her  Marriage  to  Burr       .      ,  176 

From  a  lithograph. 

Silhouette  of  Madame  Jumel 184 

From  the  original  made  at  Saratoga  in  1842. 

Group  Portrait  of  Madame  Jumel  and  her  Grand-Niece  and  Grand- 
Nephew 190 

The  portrait  was  painted  by  Alcide  Ercole  in  Rome  in  1854.  The  break  in  the  canvas 
caused  by  the  inkstand  thrown  by  William  Inglis  Chase  is  not  discernible  in  the  reproduc- 
tion. 

The  Drawing-Room 196 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1887  and  showing  little  change  from  Madame  Jumel's  time. 

The  Entrance  Hall  of  the  House 200 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1887.  It  is  believed  that  this  shows  the  hall  much  as  it  was  in 
Madame  Jumel's  time. 


xii  List  of  Illustrations 

Genealogical  Table  of  the  Bowens,  Clarks,  and  Chases       .       .      .  204 

Redrawn  after  the  original  compiled  by  George  Washington  Bowen  during  the  trial  of 
Bowen  vs.  Chase  and  revised  by  James  Wallace  Tygard. 

George  Washington  Bowen 214 

From  a  photograph. 

George  Washington  Bowen's  House  on  Hewes  Street,  Providence  218 

James  Wallace  Tygard,  the  Present  Claimant 220 

Front  Door  and  Balcony  of  the  Jumel  Mansion 226 


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The  Jumel  Mansion 


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The  Jumel  Mansion 


CHAPTER    I 


THE    HOUSE 


THE  house  was  well  built.  That  was  fortunate,  for  it 
had  a  long  life  and  a  trying  one  before  it ;  its  stanch 
timbers  were  to  weather  storms,  its  broad  roof  to 
shelter  deeds  noble  and  ignoble,  its  wide  halls  to  echo 
to  the  tread  of  great  soldiers  and  to  the  bickerings  of  small  peo- 
ple, its  walls  would  have  strange  deeds  to  witness  and  dark 
secrets  to  keep.  It  was  to  be  a  house  of  history,  of  mystery, 
and  of  many  fables.  It  was  to  begin  its  career  in  an  era  of  pro- 
found peace,  to  take  part  in  a  great  war,  to  have  many  owners, 
and  then  to  settle  down  to  a  long  ownership,  and  finally  to  be 
robbed  and  plundered  by  the  harpies  of  the  law. 

The  story  of  the  Roger  Morris  house  of  the  Revolution,  as 
we  find  it  in  current  history,  is  largely  woven  out  of  romance 
and  fable.  The  romantic  story  of  its  building  for  the  bride  in 
1758,  the  year  of  the  marriage  of  Colonel  Roger  Morris  and 
Mary  Philipse,  is  a  fable  that  was  long  passed  from  one  his- 
torian to  another. 

In  1758,  and  for  five  years  thereafter,  the  farm,  on  which  the 
Morris  house  was  built  later,  was  the  property  of  Jacob  Dyck- 
man  and  Yantie,  his  wife.  It  had  come  to  Jacob  by  marriage, 
for  Yantie,  or  Jannetje,  Kiersen  was  the  daughter  of  Jan  Kier- 
sen,  who  had  settled  on  the  site  of  the  Morris  house  as  early  as 
1700.  "A  half  morgen  of  land  from  the  common  woods"  on 
Jochem  Pieters  Hills  was  granted  to  Jan  Kiersen  aforesaid,  that 
he  might  build  a  house  and  barn  thereon  and  plant  a  garden,  on 
condition  that  he  set  apart  a  strip  of  land  for  a  road,  or  king's 

highway, 


j4  house  of 
Mystery 


Some  had  history 


Jan  Kit. 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


"Jan  Kiersen's 
daughter  Tantie 


The  Carrol  deed 


Some  Dyckman 
spelling  in  iy6j 


highway,  between  his  house  and  that  of  his  neighbor  Samuel 
Waldron.  The  king's  highway  became  the  King's  Bridge  Road, 
and  the  house  that  Kiersen  built  stood  on  the  east  side  of  that 
road. 

The  Morris  farmhouse,  or  "White  House,"  that  stood  close 
to  the  road  in  the  good  old  Dutch  fashion  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution,  was  probably  built  at  a  later  date,  as  the  Kiersen 
family  prospered.  The  date  of  Jan  Kiersen's  death  and  the 
descent  of  the  property  to  his  heirs  is  not  given,  but  besides  his 
daughter  Yantie  he  left  two  sons,  who  seem  to  have  parted 
with  their  interest  in  the  farm  before  1763.  In  that  year  the 
farm  was  sold,  for  "one  thousand  pounds  of  good  and  lawful 
money  of  New  York,"  to  one  James  Carrol.  The  signatures 
attached  to  the  deed  are  interesting  as  showing  the  lack  of  ed- 
ucation among  well-to-do  people  at  that  time.  The  deed  was 
signed  by  Jacob  Dyckman,  Sr.,  and  Yantie  his  wife,  and  by 
their  married  sons  and  daughters,  in  all  by  six  married  couples. 

THIS  INDENTURE  made  this  Twenty  ninth  of  January  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  three, 
between  &c  .  .  .^ 

In  witness  whereof  the  parties  to  these  presents  have  hereunto 
Interchangeably  set  their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  first 

her 

above  written.   Jacob  Dyckman  (LS)  Jannetje     X     (LS)  Jacob 

her  mark 

Deykmont  (LS)  Catalyntie     X     Dyckman  (LS)  VVillem  Dyck- 

her  mark 

man  (LS)  Mary    X    Deykman  (LS)  John  Vermilye  (LS)  Gerritye 

her  mark 

X     Vermilye  (LS)    Abraham  Odle  (LS)  Rabeckh  Odell  (LS) 

mark 

Jonathan  Odell  (LS)  Margaret  Odel  (LS) 

As  there  were  no  banks  of  deposit  in  those  days,  the  thousand 
pounds  was  probably  stowed  away  in  leather  wallets  and  gin- 
ger-jars until  it  could  be  invested  in  more  land. 

James  Carrol  seems  to  have  lived  on  the  place  for  two  years, 
raising  fruit  and  vegetables  for  market  in  the  little  city  ten 
miles  to  the  south.  Either  truck-farming  was  not  profitable  at 
that  early  date  or  he  may  have  bought  the  property  for  specu- 
lation: at  all  events,  in  the  spring  of  1765,  he  offered  the  farm 
for  sale.  His  advertisement,  which  appeared  week  after  week 
in  the  two  citypapers,  the  "  Post  Boy"  and  "Gaine's  Mercury," 

until 

'  See  Appendix  A. 


"The  House,  Front  View 


V  .   -      ....    i  -        L 


The  House 


until  its  last  appearance  in  the  "Post  Boy"  on  the  13th  of 
June,  gives  us  a  little  knowledge  of  the  sort  of  crops  he  raised :  — 

A  pleasant  situated  farm  on  the  road  leading  to  King's  Bridge, 
in  the  Township  of  Harlem  of  York  Island,  containing  about 
100  acres:  about  30  acres  of  which  is  Wood  land,  a  fine  piece  of 
Meadow  Ground,  and  more  may  easily  be  made:  and  commands 
the  finest  Prospect  in  the  whole  country;  the  Land  runs  from 
River  to  River,  there  is  Fishing,  Oystering,  and  Claming  at  either 
end.  There  is  a  good  House,  a  fine  Barn,  44  feet  long  and  42  feet 
wide  or  thereabouts,  an  Orchard  of  good  Fruit,  with  plenty  of 
Quince  Trees  that  bear  extraordinerily  wall,  three  good  gardens 
the  produce  of  which  are  sent  to  the  York  Markets  daily,  as  it 
suits.  An  indisputable  Title  to  be  given  to  the  Purchaser.  Inquire 
of  James  Carroll,  living  on  the  Premises,  who  will  agree  on  rea- 
sonable terms. 

The  Morrises  lived  at  this  time  in  their  city  house,  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  Whitehall  and  Stone  Streets,  which  was 
near  the  east  gate  of  the  fort,  and  which,  if  standing  now,  would 
be  under  the  east  wall  of  the  new  custom-house.  Up  to  this 
time  they  had  probably  spent  most  of  their  summers  at  the  old 
manor  house  at  Yonkers,  the  ancestral  horne  of  Mrs.  Morris, 
then  occupied  by  her  brother,  the  Frederick  Philipse  of  that 
day,  whose  city  house  was  facing  that  of  Colonel  Morris.  The 
land  on  which  the  Morris  house  stood,  seems  to  have  been  in 
the  possession  of  the  Philipse  family  from  a  very  early  date. 
Mrs.  Amherst  Morris,  in  sending  to  the  museum  a  document 
autographed  by  Mary  Morris  (Mary  Philipse)  in  1797,  writes 
of  the  papers  not  destroyed  by  Admiral  Henry  Gage  Morris, 
the  eldest  son  of  Roger  Morris :  — 

There  is  also  a  very  interesting  old  deed  or  patent  signed  by 
Governor  Andros,  Governor  General  under  H.R.H.  James  Duke 
of  York  and  Albany,  of  New  York,  in  which  he  assigns  a  portion  of 
land  on  the  south  side  of  Stone  Street  to  Frederick  Philipse,  who 
had  purchased  the  same.  The  date  is  1689. 

Colonel  Morris  was  the  owner  of  a  sloop-rigged  yacht,  the 
Fancy,  which,  with  a  favorable  wind  and  tide,  was  the  swiftest 
and  most  comfortable  mode  of  travel  between  New  York  and 
Yonkers.  His  yacht  lay  at  anchor  in  the  East  River  when  not 
on  a  cruise.  An  old  engraving  published  in  the  "London  Mag- 
azine" in  1761,  and  called  "The  South  Prospect  of  the  City  of 
New  York  in  North  America,"  having  the  objects  of  interest 

indicated 


The  '■'Post  Boy," 
June  I  J,  iy6s 


The  town  house 
of  Roger  Morris 


His  yacht 
the  Fancy 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


No  Morris  deed 


Framing  a  house 


No  house  just 
like  it  in 
America 


indicated  by  numbers,  shows  "22,  Colonel  Morris's  Fancy 
turning  to  windward  with  a  sloop  of  common  mould."  The 
windows  along  the  hull  would  indicate  that  she  had  comfortable 
cabins  below  deck.  If  they  drove  to  Yonkers  by  the  Albany 
road,  up  Break-Neck  Hill  and  past  the  "pleasant  situated 
farm"  with  its  "three  good  gardens"  and  the  quince  trees  that 
"bore  extraordinarily  well,"  they  had  an  opportunity  to  note 
the  fine  elevation  of  the  site,  on  which  they  afterwards  built 
their  country  seat.  No  Morris  deed  can  be  found,  but  the 
probability  is  that  the  withdrawal  of  the  Carrol  advertisement 
in  the  "Post  Boy"  in  June,  1765,  marks  the  time  of  the  pur- 
chase of  the  property  by  Roger  Morris  and  approximately  that 
of  the  building  of  the  house. 

That  was  a  period  of  honest  construction,  when  the  oak  tim- 
bers were  cut  and  scored  in  the  woods  and  hauled  on  to  the 
ground  by  oxen ;  when  the  sills  and  posts  and  plates  were  shaped 
with  broadaxe  and  adze,  and  mortised  with  auger  and  chisel. 
The  carpenters  having  completed  the  work  of  framing,  the 
farmer-neighbors  came  to  the  "  raising."  The  sills  were  laid  on 
the  cellar  walls,  and  sections  of  the  frame  were  raised  into  place 
and  held  by  spike-shod  poles  of  hickory  until  they  were  made 
secure  for  the  ages  with  white-oak  pins.  The  raising  was 
"bossed"  by  the  head  carpenter,  with  hoarse  cries  of  "Ready! 
He-o-heave!"  and  "Steady!"  and  when  the  work  was  done 
there  were  merry  quips  over  the  hard  cider  and  doughnuts. 

There  were  special  features  in  the  construction  of  this  stately 
house  which  were  not  usual  in  ordinary  buildings.  The  outer 
walls  were  lined  with  good  English  brick,  which  received  the 
plaster  and  served  to  keep  out  the  heat  of  summer  and  the 
damp  of  autumn.  The  severe  plainness  of  the  colonial  interior, 
where  ornament  was  usually  lavished  on  mantelpiece  and  stair- 
case, would  suggest  that  rapidity  of  construction  may  have 
been  a  prime  object  and  that  the  summer  of  1766  may  have 
found  the  house  ready  for  occupancy.  No  essential,  however, 
of  stability  in  the  foundation  or  in  the  superstructure  was 
neglected,  and  only  on  the  beautiful  doorways  was  time  lav- 
ishly spent.  The  plan  of  the  house  is  Georgian,  but  of  a  pecu- 
liar English  type  seldom  seen  in  this  country.  The  distinguish- 
ing architectural  feature  is  the  deep,  octagonal  drawing-room 

projecting 


The  House 


projecting  back  from  the  broad  entrance  hall  and  forming  with 
its  wide  doorway  a  peculiarly  dignified  interior. 

The  unusually  spacious  halls  are  suggestively  English,  as 
comfortable  survivals  of  the  great  halls  in  baronial  castles 
where  the  lord  of  the  manor  and  his  retainers  ate  and  slept,  and 
which,  in  a  reasonably  diminished  form,  have  held  their  dis- 
tinguished place  in  the  great  country  houses. 

To  an  architect,  one  of  the  curious  and  interesting  features  in 
the  construction  of  the  old  house  is  the  stone  gutter  bordering 
the  basement  walls.  Modern  gutters  on  the  roof  have  left  it 
useless  for  a  hundred  years,  but  here  it  remains  to  tell  its  story 
of  the  past.  It  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  only,  here  and 
there,  the  turf  overhanging  and  drooping  into  the  stone  drain 
and  taking  root  in  the  crevices  between  the  blocks.  It  consists 
of  a  ledge  of  limestone  flagging  twenty-two  inches  wide,  just 
above  the  level  of  the  lawn  and  sloping  slightly  to  an  eight-inch 
gutter,  which  is  cut  in  a  separate  block  of  stone.  For  a  space  at 
the  back  of  the  house,  the  stone  gutter  has  disappeared  and  has 
been  replaced  by  a  few  sections  of  modem  open  drain  tile. 

This  flagging  was  laid  down  as  the  walls  were  built  and  is 
quite  wide  enough  for  a  walk  along  the  sides  of  the  house ;  it 
was  intended  in  the  old  days  to  receive  the  plashing  of  the  tor- 
rent from  the  roof  and  conduct  it  away  underfoot  instead  of 
overhead. 

The  house,  when  completed,  contained  (counting  halls)  nine- 
teen rooms  and  a  finished  and  plastered  garret.  New  York  was 
a  slaveholding  colony  in  those  early  days,  and  the  great  kitchen, 
floored  with  plank,  was  in  the  basement.  One  of  the  three  half- 
story  rooms  at  the  top  of  the  house  is  provided  with  a  fireplace, 
which  seems  never  to  have  had  a  mantelpiece  or  any  framework 
of  wood,  and  may  have  been  provided  for  the  comfort  of  a  pair 
of  faithful  negro  servants,  who  cared  for  the  house  during  the 
winter. 

For  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  the  house,  above  the  base- 
ment, remained  unchanged  except  for  a  partition  wall  shutting 
off^  the  stairway  from  the  lower  hall,  and  designed  to  keep  the 
living-rooms  warmer  in  the  winter-time  during  the  open-fire 
period,  and  this  was  removed  some  years  ago.  Two  English 
hob-grates  were  set  in  the  fireplaces  of  the  two  parlors,  probably 

about 


Wide  halls 


The  eaves- 
trough  on  the 
ground 


House 

unchanged  for 
I  JO  years 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Great  kitchen^ 
20  y.  ^0  feet 


The  massive 
ivalls  of  stone 


Ample  negro 
quarters 


about  1827,  for  burning  coal,  and  at  some  not  remote  period  a 
door  was  opened  between  the  southwest  and  the  northwest 
chambers. 

It  was  the  struggle  to  keep  warm,  in  a  house  buih  for  sum- 
mer habitation,  that  caused  an  important  change  belowstairs. 
When  Roger  Morris  occupied  it,  the  baronial  room  of  the  house 
was  the  great  kitchen,  where  the  joints  were  roasted  before  the 
open  fire,  in  the  good  old  English  fashion,  and  where  a  bounti- 
ful table  was  spread  for  the  family  of  colored  servants.  This 
kitchen  was  thirty  feet  long  by  twenty  feet  wide,  having  a  floor 
area  of  six  hundred  square  feet.  It  was  larger  than  the  great 
drawing-room. 

The  outer  walls  of  the  house  are  more  than  two  feet  thick, 
and  all  the  partition  walls,  dividing  the  smallest  basement 
rooms,  are  stone  walls  a  foot  thick,  rising  from  the  foundation 
rock.  On  these  walls  the  sills  were  laid  for  the  first  floor.  This 
unusual  kitchen  space,  twenty  feet  by  thirty,  made  a  great  well 
to  be  bridged  over,  which  was  handled  very  simply  by  the  car- 
penters, who  laid  a  great  twenty-foot  beam  from  wall  to  wall 
across  the  center  of  the  space,  strong  enough  to  receive  the  in- 
ner ends  of  the  fifteen-foot  sleepers  which  extended  to  the  end 
walls  of  the  room.  This  great  beam  is  the  only  timber  now  visi- 
ble below  the  plastered  ceiling. 

Into  this  great  kitchen,  when  the  house  was  built,  opened  all 
the  kitchen  offices,  the  buttery,  the  hallway  to  the  region  above- 
stairs,  the  dairy,  and  the  laundry.  The  steps  from  the  yard 
opened  into  the  comer  of  the  kitchen  and  aflforded  a  pleasant 
shaft  of  ventilation  in  the  hot  summer  days.  The  kitchen 
had  a  wooden  floor.  This  was  the  ample  kitchen  of  a  "coun- 
try seat"  where  the  house  servants,  who  were  African  slaves, 
held  sway  in  a  realm  of  their  own.  There  had  been  no  thought 
of  winter  weather  when  the  house  was  built,  but  the  time 
came  in  after  years,  when  the  house  was  occupied  winter  and 
summer,  that  the  kitchen  was  found  to  be  too  large  to  keep 
warm,  the  more  so  as  all  the  kitchen  oflSces  opened  into  it  with 
swinging  doors,  and  some  owner  built  a  new  partition  wall  of 
brick,  contracting  the  kitchen  space  by  taking  from  it  the 
L-shaped  hall  that  now  leads  to  the  various  basement  rooms. 
If  it  was  Stephen  Jumel  who  made  the  change,  the  life  of  the 

original 


OLP    JTONLGUTf' 


OLD-  OTONL-PPtTM, 


P    O  R.T  \  C  O 


<Sz 


F   I    R.v3  T-  F   UOOR. 


'v3ELCO  ND'FI^OOI^' 


'AT    T    1   C 


The  House 


original  kitchen,  as  Roger  Morris  built  it,  had  been  nearly  half 
a  century. 

The  great  fireplace  was,  and  still  is,  at  the  east  end  of  the 
kitchen,  its  mass  of  brick,  nine  feet  wide,  projecting  from  the 
wall  one  foot  into  the  room.  The  significance  of  this  projection 
was  somewhat  obscured  by  the  walling-up  of  the  right-hand 
recess,  flush  with  the  chimney  face,  all  of  which  was  heavily 
plastered  over.  There  had  been  left,  however,  near  the  floor,  a 
manhole  a  foot  high  by  eight  or  nine  inches  wide,  very  much  as 
a  manhole  is  provided  in  the  pavement  of  sidewalks  and  for 
much  the  same  purpose.  Against  this  end  of  the  room  a  heavy 
carpenter's  bench  had  stood  for  years. 

When  the  carpenter's  bench  was  removed  and  a  candle  put 
through  the  hole,  there  was  revealed  the  old  fireplace,  blackened 
by  the  smoke  of  many  a  log  fire,  and  deeply  banked  with  soot. 
When  the  hole  was  enlarged  and  the  hearth  was  cleaned,  one 
could  get  in  and  look  about,  candle  in  hand.  The  far-away  day- 
light was  visible  at  the  top  of  the  chimney.  The  breast  of  the 
chimney  above  the  mantelpiece  bulged  inward  into  a  narrow 
blackened  throat,  and  pipe  holes  showed  within  that  had  been 
plastered  over  outside.  The  lower  bricks  at  the  back  of  the  fire- 
place, which  may  have  been  banked  with  damp  soot  for  a  mat- 
ter of  seventy-five  years,  were  quite  rotten  and  crumbled  at  the 
touch.  High  up  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  chimney  is  the 
opening  of  the  flue  from  the  Dutch  oven. 

At  the  opposite  end  of  the  fireplace  and  at  the  proper  height 
is  the  iron  pivot  from  which  swung  the  great  crane  that  carried 
the  cooking-pots  when  General  Washington  occupied  the  house. 
At  the  same  end  of  the  fireplace  and  a  little  higher  up,  a  flat 
iron  bar  crosses  the  back  angle  of  the  chimney  and  is  firmly 
bedded  in  the  bricks.  It  has  a  round  hole  through  it  and  is  at 
the  same  level  with  a  large  pivot  iron  at  the  opposite  end  of  the 
chimney,  and  these  carried  a  bar  with  sliding  chains  from  which 
to  hang  pots  and  kettles. 

When  the  heavy  concrete  plaster  was  removed  from  the  face 
of  the  chimney,  the  outline  of  the  old  fireplace  appeared,  show- 
ing a  flat  arch  composed  of  two  rows  of  bricks  resting  on  an  iron 
support.  The  opening  was  seven  feet  wide  and  four  and  a  half 
feet  high  at  the  center  of  the  arch.  The  mantelpiece,  which  had 

been 


A  discovery 


A  peep  at  the 

fireplace  through 
the  man-hole 


The  Washing- 
ton crane 


8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  mantelpiece 


The  Dutch  oven, 
opening  into  the 
^replace 


been  hewn  off  flush  with  the  bricks,  was  at  the  old-fashioned 
height,  nearly  six  feet  above  the  hearth.  The  mantel-bearer, 
on  which  the  mantelpiece  had  rested,  supported  the  front  of  the 
chimney,  relieving  the  arch  of  undue  strain.  The  right-hand 
pier  of  the  fireplace  is  somewhat  shattered,  and  the  beforemen- 
tioned  wall,  flush  with  the  front  of  the  fireplace,  and  extending 
under  the  high  window  to  the  south  wall,  seems  to  have  been 
built  to  support  the  crumbling  pier  of  the  fireplace,  and  built  at 
a  period  before  the  fireplace  passed  out  of  use  and  was  bricked 

"P-  .  .    . 

An  after  discovery  within  the  fireplace,  and  just  above  the 

brick  bench,  was  the  end  of  a  brick  arch,  quite  black  with 
smoke,  which,  when  uncovered,  proved  to  be  twenty  inches 
wide  and  extending  across  the  end  of  the  chimney  at  a  right 
angle  with  the  arch  of  the  fireplace.  When  a  few  bricks  had 
been  removed  from  this  archway,  it  was  possible  to  look  into  the 
cavity,  where  darkness  had  reigned  for  perhaps  half  a  century, 
by  putting  a  lighted  candle  through  on  the  end  of  a  wire.  The 
light  of  the  candle  shone  on  the  arch  of  the  oven  overhead,  and 
on  the  level  floor  below,  and  on  the  inner  side  of  the  wall  that 
had  been  built  to  strengthen  the  pier  of  the  fireplace.  This  wall 
was  unstained  by  fire  or  smoke,  and  the  farther  end  of  the  oven- 
arch  was  broken  off  before  it  reached  the  wall,  showing  that  the 
oven  had  been  sacrificed  to  save  the  fireplace,  and  that  the 
bulge  of  the  oven  had  projected  slightly  into  the  kitchen.  This 
unusual  oven  door,  located  within  the  fireplace,  opened  on  a 
bench  of  brick  upon  which  the  bread  was  placed  before  shoving 
it  into  the  oven.  This  bench  was  at  other  times  a  comfortable 
seat,  whereon  a  ragged  Continental  soldier  may  have  lounged, 
warming  his  feet  at  the  blazing  logs. 

That  some  alterations  in  the  interior  should  creep  into  so  old 
a  house,  occupied  by  so  many  owners  and  by  so  many  tenants, 
would  seem  inevitable,  but,  barring  the  aforesaid  alterations, 
the  house  seems  to  have  come  down  to  the  end  of  the  Jumel 
period,  1887,  and  even  to  1894,  almost  exactly  as  it  was  origi- 
nally built. 

An  advertisement,  published  in  1792,  in  the  "New  York 
Daily  Advertiser,"  offering  the  house  and  farm  for  sale,  gives 
the  earliest  known  description  of  the  interior.    Anthony  L. 

Bleecker 


The  House 


Bleecker  seems  to  have  been  a  real-estate  operator  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  who  bought  the  property  on  February  i,  adver- 
tised it  for  sale  on  the  ist  of  March,  and  later  sold  it  to  Leonard 
Parkinson.  The  description  is  detailed  and  interesting  and  will 
be  especially  valuable  when  the  city  of  New  York  gets  ready  to 
make  a  complete  and  much-needed  restoration  in  the  house. 
The  statement  that  there  were  ever  three  fireplaces  on  the  third 
floor  was  evidently  a  mistake  of  the  new  owner,  as  the  relation 
of  the  walls  to  the  chimneys  would  have  made  such  a  number  of 
fireplaces  impossible. 
The  advertisement  follows:  — 

HARLEM  HEIGHTS 

To  he  sold  at  -private  sale 

That  pleasant  and  much  admired  seat,  Harlem  Heights,  for- 
merly the  property  of  the  Hon.  Roger  Morris,  distant  ten  miles 
from  New  York,  containing  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  acres 
of  good  arable  pasture  and  meadow  land,  including  five  acres  of 
best  salt  meadow.    The  land  produces  good  crops  of  grain  and 
grass  and  extends  across  the  island  from  river  to  river,  and  from 
the  advantage  of  a  communication  by  water  on  each  side  and  the 
easy  transportation  of  manure  from  the  city  may  be  brought  to 
any  state  of  improvement  required.    On  the  premises  is  a  large 
dwelling-house  built  in  modern  style  and  taste  and  elegance.    It 
has  a  front  portico  supported  by  pillars  embelished  and  finished  in 
character;  a  large  hall  through  the  centre;  a  spacious  dining-room 
on  the  right  with  an  alcove,  closets  and  convenient  pantry  and 
storeroom  adjoining,  and  beyond  these  a  light  easy  mahogany 
staircase.  On  the  left  is  a  handsome  parlor  and  a  large  back  room 
particularly  adapted  and  fitted  for  a  nursery.  A  passage  from  the 
rear  of  the  hall  leads  to  an  oblong  octagon  room  about  thirty-two 
feet  by  twenty-two,  with  six  sash  windows,  marble  chimney  piece, 
and  a  lofty  airy  ceiling.   On  the  second  f]oor  are  seven  bedcham- 
bers, four  with  fireplaces  and  marble  hearths;  and  a  large  hall 
communicating  with  a  gallery  under  the  portico,  and  from  which 
there  is  a  most  inviting  prospect.  On  the  upper  floor  are  five  lodg- 
ing-rooms, three  of  which  have  fireplaces;  and  at  the  top  of  the 
house  is  affixed  an  electric  conducter.    Underneath  the  building 
are  a  large  commodious  kitchen  and  laundry  and  wine  cellar, 
storeroom,  kitchen  pantry,  sleeping  apartments  for  servants,  and 
a  most  complete  dairy-room.  The  floor  is  solid  flat  rock,  and  which 
with  common  attention  to  cleanliness  cannot  fail  to  render  the 
place  constantly  cool  and  sweet.  There  are  also  on  the  premises  a 
large   barn   and   most  excellent  coach-house  and  stables.    The 
buildings  have  been  rather  neglected  of  late,  and  will  want  some 

repairs. 


An  opportunity 
for  the  city  of 
New  York 


•■'■Ne^v  York 
Daily 

Advertiser" 
1792 


The  house  has 
a  lightning-rod 


lO 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Its  southern 
aspect 


An  extensive 
prospect 


From  the  top  of 
the  house 


repairs,  but  are  in  other  respects  substantially  firm,  sound  and 
good.  The  house  has  a  southern  aspect,  and  being  situated  on 
rising  ground  at  the  narrowest  part  of  York  Island  commands  an 
extended  view  of  the  Hudson  and  the  opposite  range  of  lofty  rock 
cliffs  that  bound  the  western  shore,  of  the  East  River,  Harlem 
River,  Hell  Gate,  the  Sound  many  miles  to  the  eastward,  and  the 
shipping  that  are  constantly  passing  and  repassing.  In  front  is 
seen  the  City  of  New  York,  and  the  high  hills  on  Staten  Island 
distant  more  than  twenty  miles.  To  the  left  Long  Island,  West- 
chester, Morrisania,  and  the  village  of  Harlem  with  its  cultivated 
surrounding  fields  exhibit  a  variety  of  pleasing  views;  in  short, 
Harlem  Heights  affords  a  prospect  as  extensive,  varied  and  de- 
lightful as  any  seat  in  the  United  States  and  considering  its  healthy, 
desirable  position,  the  ample  accommodation  of  the  buildings, 
its  practical  distance  from  town,  the  excellent  road  that  leads  to  it, 
and  the  many  other  attendant  advantages,  cannot  fail  to  strike  the 
observation  of  any  one  as  an  eligible  retreat  for  a  gentleman  fond 
of  rural  employments  and  who  wishes  to  pass  the  summer  months 
with  pleasure  and  comfort. 

The  premises  to  be  viewed  at  any  time.  Further  particulars 
may  be  known  by  applying  to 

Anthony  L.  Bleecker  &  Son, 

No.  22  Wall  Street. 

The  prospect  was  all  that  the  new  owner  claimed.  It  was 
later  the  boast  of  the  Jumel  family  that  seven  counties  could 
be  seen  from  the  "gallery  under  the  portico."  One  of  these  was 
Richmond  County  on  Staten  Island.  The  others  were  New 
York  County,  Westchester,  just  across  the  Harlem  River,  Kings 
and  Queens  on  Long  Island,  and  two  counties  across  the  Hud- 
son, one  in  New  York  and  one  in  New  Jersey. 

From  the  top  of  the  house,  to-day,  some  idea  may  be  formed 
of  the  extended  view  of  the  surrounding  country  commanded 
by  its  windows  when  it  was  built,  and  for  a  hundred  years 
thereafter.  To  the  west,  the  forest  crowning  the  Palisades 
stretched  in  a  long  line  against  the  sky,  while  the  bosom  of  the 
wide  Hudson  was  covered  by  the  nearer  bank  of  the  river, 
which  drew  a  wavy  line  of  green  against  the  granite  walls  of  the 
Palisades.  On  the  other  hand,  beyond  the  East  River,  the  pale- 
blue  hills  of  Long  Island  closed  the  horizon,  fading  into  the  haze 
of  the  distant  Sound,  to  reappear  in  the  Connecticut  shore  and 
swell  into  the  wooded  hills  of  Westchester.  Away  to  the  south, 
Staten  Island  lay  softly  across  the  bay  beyond  the  low  houses 
of  the  old  city  of  New  York. 

The 


The  House  in  iSSj 


The  House 


II 


The  ground  rose  slightly  behind  the  house  toward  Fort 
Washington  and  Fort  George,  but  in  every  other  direction  the 
house  crowned  the  landscape  and  dominated  the  surrounding 
country  with  its  four  white  walls,  just  as,  in  distinction,  it 
looked  down  on  the  humbler  houses  threaded  along  the  line  of 
the  King's  Bridge  Road,  and  the  homes  on  Morris  Heights, 
beyond  the  Harlem  River.  To  the  family  who  built  it,  this 
handsome  country  seat  was  known  as  "Mount  Morris." 

After  the  Revolution  the  house  passed  through  many  hands 
before  it  dropped  into  the  long  ownership  of  the  Jumels.  This 
period,  including  its  Revolutionary  and  pre-Revolutionary 
days  covered  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years,  dur- 
ing which  the  house  remained,  externally  and  internally,  almost 
exactly  as  it  had  been  built.  Even  the  speculators  who  bought 
the  property  in  1887,  and  who  laid  out  the  cross-roads  and  built 
extensively  in  what  had  been  the  original  dooryard,  made  no 
change  in  the  interior  or  exterior  of  the  house.  If  the  house  had 
come  into  the  possession  of  the  city  in  1894,  except  in  the  great 
kitchen  no  restoration  would  have  been  needed.  Otherwise,  it 
was  still  the  house  as  Roger  Morris  had  built  it  and  as  it  was 
when  Washington  occupied  it. 

In  1894,  however,  the  old  colonial  house  fell  into  unapprecia- 
tive  ownership.  Most  of  the  fine  colonial  mantelpieces  were 
torn  out  and  consigned  to  the  cellar,  and  carved-oak  mantel- 
pieces, surmounted  with  looking-glasses,  were  installed  in  their 
stead.  The  ceilings  and  cornices  were  papered,  and  in  the  small 
parlor  the  woodwork  was  painted  red.  In  the  octagon  parlor  a 
decoration  was  put  on  the  ceiling  and  on  the  panels  under  the 
windows  both  of  which  were  originally  plain.  Throughout  the 
house  the  small  brass  doorknobs  gave  place  to  cheap  earthen 
ones,  the  lions  heads  on  the  inside  shutters  were  removed,  and 
the  tall  double  entrance  doors  were  replaced  by  a  single  door.  A 
kitchen  was  built  in  the  angle  of  the  house,  closing  one  east-side 
entrance  door  and  closing  two  windows,  one  looking  north  from 
the  first  landing  of  the  stairway  and  the  other  from  that  side  of 
the  butler's  pautry.  The  flight  of  steps  leading  from  the  first 
landing  into  the  butler's  pantry  was  removed,  and  the  door  lead- 
ing to  it  w^as  lathed  and  plastered  over.  In  the  chamber  be- 
lieved to  have  been  General  Washington's  office,  at  the  north 

end 


Mount  Alorris 


Little  change  for 
one  hundred  and 
twenty-jive 
yean 


What  he/el  in 
1894. 


12 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


A  studio  was 
made 


Already  an  old 
farming  country 


Their  viewpoint 


end  of  the  second  floor,  an  alteration  was  made,  converting  the 
room  into  a  studio  by  breaking  into  the  garret  to  get  a  north 
light.  A  dormer  window  that  had  lighted  the  garret  was  re- 
moved and  a  railing  put  up  to  close  the  open  garret  end,  and 
the  English  hob-grate  was  brought  up  from  the  octagon  parlor 
to  ornament  the  studio.  It  is  fair  to  state  that  before  this 
transformation  was  made  a  fire  occurred  in  the  room,  burning 
a  portion  of  the  ceiling  and  damaging  the  dormer  window. 

The  country  in  which  this  house  was  built  was  not  a  new 
country,  where  the  woods  predominated,  but  already  a  country 
of  tilled  fields  and  cultivated  farms  and  orchards  and  gardens. 
The  Albany  Post-Road  was  an  old  king's  highway,  skirting  the 
Hudson,  its  course  dotted  with  villages,  and  connecting  two 
colonial  cities.  As  it  led  out  of  New  York  across  Harlem 
Heights,  it  connected  certain  colonial  houses,  whose  aristo- 
cratic families  justly  regarded  themselves  as  the  last  word  in  the 
culture  and  refinement  of  their  day.  Their  sons  were  educated 
at  King's  College,  and  their  daughters  went  to  fashionable 
boarding-schools,  where  they  were  taught  deportment,  the 
musical  glasses  and  the  globes.  On  state  occasions  they  ap- 
peared in  embroidered  coats  and  powdered  wigs,  riding  in 
stately  coaches  drawn  by  bob-tailed  horses  gay  with  glittering 
harness,  and  to  them  New  York  was  an  old  city  and  the  period 
in  which  they  lived  was  an  age  of  bewildering  inventions. 

Their  viewpoint  was  much  the  same  as  ours.  They  were 
sorry  for  their  ancestors,  the  New  Yorkers  of  the  century  be- 
fore, who  had  not  lived  to  see  the  marvels  of  their  day.  They 
wondered  together  what  Peter  Stuyvesant  or  Wouter  Van 
Twiller,  if  he  could  be  translated  back  to  earth,  would  think  of 
the  paved  streets  and  the  high  buildings  and  the  great  semi- 
weekly  gazettes,  with  news  from  all  the  world,  scarcely  a  month 
old,  and  the  fire  companies  with  leather  buckets,  and  the  light- 
ning rods  and  Franklin  stoves,  and  the  "flying  machines" 
drawn  by  horses  over  country  roads  at  eight  miles  an  hour. 


CHAPTER  11 

THE    MAN   WHO    BUILT   THE   HOUSE 

1 

ROGER  MORRIS,  who  built  the  house,  was  born 
in  England,  January  28,  1727.  He  secured  a  cap- 
taincy in  the  Forty-eighth  Foot,  in  the  year  1745, 
at  the  age  of  eighteen.  Ten  years  later  he  came  to 
America  as  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  General  Braddock,  and 
was  wounded  in  the  engagement  with  the  Indians  on  the  banks 
of  the  Monongahela,  in  July,  1755.  It  was  here  that  he  first 
met  Washington,  who  was  also  on  the  staff  of  Braddock.  "A 
few  months  later,"  according  to  Mrs.  Amherst  Morris,  in  the 
"Herefordshire  Magazine"  for  November,  1907,  Captain 
Roger  Morris  was  recovering  from  his  wound  in  New  York  and 
at  the  same  time  George  Washington  was  visiting  at  the  house 
of  Beverly  Robinson,  a  Virginian  who  had  married  the  elder 
sister  of  Mary  Philipse,  "the  charming  Polly,"  who  was  to 
fascinate  both  of  these  soldiers  and  marry  one  of  them.  Per- 
haps neither  of  them  was  an  active  wooer  at  this  early  date,  and 
Morris  seems  to  have  served  in  a  campaign  with  his  regiment 
in  1757,  under  Lord  Loudon,  but  he  was  back  in  New  York  in 
July  of  that  year,  when  Washington  was  on  duty  in  Philadel- 
phia. It  is  in  this  year  of  1757  that  Joseph  Chew,  of  New  Lon- 
don, Connecticut,  a  friend  of  Washington's  and  a  frequent 
guest  at  Beverly  Robinson's,  appears  on  the  scene  with  the 
only  documentary  evidence  of  Washington's  interest  in  Mary 
Philipse. 

She  seems  to  have  spent  much  time  in  New  York  as  the  guest 
of  her  sister,  Mrs.  Robinson.  Social  life  was  dull  at  the  manor 
house  in  comparison  with  the  gayety  of  a  garrison  town  like 
New  York,  with  its  "microcosms"  and  balls.  In  spite  of  her 
fortune  she  was  at  this  time  a  spinster  of  twenty-seven.  Wash- 
ington was  a  susceptible  young  colonel  of  twenty-five,  and 

Captain 


13 


Roger  Morris 
the  builder 
comes  to  America 


"  The  charming 

Polly  " 


IVas  a  spinster 
of  twenty-seven 


14 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Joseph  Chew's 
first  record 


July  13 


From  letter  of 

'Joseph  Chew  to 
IVashington 


Joseph  Chew 
again  in  Neiv 
rork 


Captain  Morris  was  thirty  and  "a  Ladys  man,  always  some- 
thing to  say."  On  March  14,  Joseph  Chew  makes  liis  first 
record  in  the  closing  lines  of  his  letter  to  Washington  from 
New  York:  — 

I  arrived  here  from  New  London  a  few  days  agoe  and  hearing 
you  was  at  Philadelphia  trouble  you  with  this,  and  Captain  Mer- 
cer with  the  inclosed.  .  .  . 

I  am  now  at  Air.  Robinson's,  he  Mrs.  Robinson  and  his  Dear 
Little  Family  are  all  well  they  desire  their  Compliments  to  you. 
Pretty  Miss  Polly  is  in  the  same  Condition  &  situation  as  you  saw 
her  .  .  . 

On  July  13,  he  writes  to  Washington  from  New  London, 
where  he  has  just  returned  from  New  York.  As  usual  he  leaves 
love  affairs  to  the  end  of  his  letter:  — 

as  to  the  Latter  part  of  your  Letter  what  shall  I  say,  I  often 
had  the  Pleasure  of  Breakfasting  with  the  Charming  Polly,  Roger 
Morris  was  there  (dont  be  startled)  but  not  always,  you  know  him 
he  is  a  Ladys  man,  always  something  to  say,  the  Town  talk't  of  it 
as  a  sure  &  settled  Affair.  I  can't  say  I  think  so  and  that  I  much 
doubt  it,  but  assure  you  had  Little  Acquaintance  with  Mr.  Morris 
and  only  slightly  hinted  it  to  Aliss  Polly;  but  how  can  you  be 
Excused  to  Continue  so  long  at  Phlla.  I  think  I  should  have  made 
a  kind  of  Flying  march  of  it  if  it  had  been  only  to  have  seen 
whether  the  Works  were  sufficient  to  withstand  a  Vigorous  Attack, 
you  a  Soldier  and  a  Lover,  mind  I  have  been  arguing  for  ray  own 
Interest  now  for  had  you  taken  this  method  then  I  should  have 
had  the  Pleasure  of  seing  you  —  my  Paper  is  almost  full  and  I 
am  Convinced  you  will  be  heartily  tyred  in  Reading  it  —  however 
will  just  add  that  I  intend  to  set  out  tomorrow  for  New  York 
where  I  will  not  be  wanting  to  let  Miss  Polly  know  the  sincere  Re- 
gard you  h  a  Friend  of  mine  has  for  her.  and  I  am  sure  if  she  had  my 
Eyes  to  see  thro  she  would  Prefer  him  to  all  others  my  Respects 
to  Capts.  Mercer  &  Stewart,  if  my  Brother  is  in  your  way  let  him 
know  I  am  well,  now  my  Dear  Friend  I  wish  you  Eternal  Happi- 
ness and  Content  and  assure  you  that  I  am  with  sincere  Esteem 

Your  most  Obedt.  Servt. 
Jos.  Chew. 

The  post  brings  an  Acct.  of  the  Arrival  of  the  Fleet  from  Eng- 
land for  which  the  Lord  be  praised  — 

On  the  8th  of  August,  Joseph  Chew  is  again  in  New  York  and 
again  a  guest  of  the  Robinsons,  for  on  that  date  Beverly  Robin- 
son writes  a  letter  to  Washington,  and  Joseph  Chew  adds  a 
postscript,  written  on  the  same  paper:  — 


Roier  Morris 


The  Man  who  Built  the  House 


15 


...  I  arrived  here  a  few  days  agoe  Mrs  Robinson  &  her  Dear 
little  Family  are  well  Miss  Polly  has  had  a  pain  in  her  Face  but  is 
on  the  mcndg  hand.  I  pray  Heaven  to  Protect  you  and  Assure 
that  I  am  my  Dear  Sir 

Your  Obed  Servt. 

Jos.  Chew. 

The  English  descendants  of  Mary  Philipse  claim  that  Wash- 
ington made  a  formal  offer  of  his  hand  to  that  young  lady.  It 
is  plain  that  no  such  proposal  had  been  made  before  Joseph 
Chew's  letter  in  July,  and  the  English  claim  is  probably  with- 
out foundation.  In  her  article  on  Mary  Philipse,  Mrs.  Amherst 
Morris  tells  us,  "Mr.  Chew's  letter  had  the  desired  effect,  and 
Washington  set  out  for  New  York,  arriving  there  one  winter's 
evening;  late  as  the  hour  was  he  sought  and  obtained  an  inter- 
view with  Miss  Polly."  Was  not  that  a  rather  tardy  response, 
on  the  part  of  a  young  man  as  ardent  as  we  know  Washington 
was,  to  the  letter  of  his  friend  written  in  July } 

The  marriage  took  place  at  the  manor  house  at  Yonkers  on 
the  28th  of  January,  1758.  The  engagement  had  been  a  short 
one.  Only  six  months  before  the  marriage  it  had  been  a  rumor 
—  only  a  rumor  —  which  Joseph  Chew,  a  guest  of  the  family, 
refused  to  believe,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  their  town  house  was 
ready  for  them  at  the  time  of  the  marriage.  The  house  they 
finally  built  and  occupied  was  on  the  southeast  corner  of  White- 
hall and  Stone  Streets,  opposite  to  the  house  of  Frederick  Phil- 
ipse. It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  site  on  the  south  side  of 
Stone  Street  where  Colonel  Morris  built,  had  been  inherited  by 
Frederick  Philipse  from  his  uncle  in  1749,  and  it  was  probably 
given  to  the  bride  either  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  or  soon 
after.  Colonel  Morris  left  the  statement  that  he  built  himself 
"  a  very  good  house  in  New  York  City  which,  with  all  its  furni- 
ture was  destroyed  by  the  fire  in  N.Y.  in  Sept.  1776." 

The  marriage  settlement  ^  of  Roger  Morris  and  Mary  Phil- 
ipse is  a  curious,  old-fashioned  deed,  ingeniously  drawn  to  entail 
her  estate  upon  her  prospective  and  unborn  children.  A  divi- 
sion of  the  lands  of  the  great  Philipse  Manor  seems  to  have  been 
made  at  some  previous  time,  so  that  Mary  Philipse  was  the 
owner  of  51,102  acres  of  land  at  the  time  of  her  marriage. 

Instead 

'  See  Appendix  B. 


No  proposal  by 
Washington 


The  marriage 
in  I-J58 


Marriage  settle- 
ment—  a  curious 
old  deed 


i6 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Sold  it  for  five 
shillings 


Diary  of  Colonel 
Montresor 


Instead  of  the  bride  receiving  a  handsome  dot  on  that  happy  oc- 
casion, she  really  parted  with  everything  she  possessed.  Just 
two  weeks  before  the  ceremony  she  deeded  all  her  property  to 
Beverly  Robinson  and  his  wife  Joanna  (her  older  sister),  for 
the  sum  of  five  shillings,  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  children  yet 
to  be  born.  The  property  so  deeded  was  for  the  use  and  enjoy- 
ment of  the  Robinsons,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  until  the  day 
after  the  marriage,  when  "its  use  and  enjoyment"  reverted  to 
the  newly  married,  but  the  title  remained  with  the  Robinsons 
in  trust  for  the  unborn  children. 

Colonel  James  Montresor,  the  father  of  Captain  John  Mon- 
tresor, who  will  figure  in  a  later  chapter,  records  in  his  diary, 
"Thursday  19.  [January.]  Major  Morris  and  Miss  Phillips 
Married."  (The  date  is  evidently  "Old  Style.")  The  elder 
Montresor  was  a  fussy  old  gentleman,  whose  social  affairs  were, 
to  his  mind,  of  the  first  importance  and  are  about  the  only 
records  in  his  diary,  but  brief  as  they  are  they  give  a  little 
glimpse  of  social  New  York  at  the  time  of  the  marriage.  The 
entry  before  "Thursday  19."  is: — 

Monday  9th.  (New  York.)  Dined  and  Supped  at  Lord  Loudons 
—  Began  to  shave  with  Cox  at  20  shillings  per  Quarter. 

The  entries  following  the  record  of  the  marriage  are :  — 

Tuesday  24th.  Gave  Mrs.  Montresor  for  Concert  £1.  10.  o. 
Mrs.  Montresor  went  to  the  Concert  &  supped  afterwards  with 
Major  Hackett  and  the  Company  at  Scotch  Johny's. 

Wednesday  25th.  Dined  at  Genl.  Webb's,  Supped  at  Mr. 
Phlllpse. 

Feby  ist,  Wednesday.  Dined  at  Genl.  Webb's,  Supped  at  Major 
Morris's. 

Tuesday  7th,  Dined  and  Supped  at  Beverly  Robinsons. 

Thursday  23d  (March)  Collo  Philipse,  Lady  Mrs.  Philipsc 
Morris  Robinson  &c  Supped  with  me. 

A  month  after  his  marriage  Captain  Morris  purchased  a 
majority  in  the  Thirty-fifth  British  Foot  and  served  with  that 
regiment  in  Halifax.  His  military  record,  until  he  quit  the 
service  in  1764,  is  given  as  follows  in  the  "Colonial  History  of 
New  York":  — 

In  the  winter  following  [the  service  In  Halifax]  he  was  stationed 
at  Fort  Frederic,  and  was  occasionally  detailed  to  chase  the  Indians 
who  harassed  the  British  settlements  In  Nova  Scotia.   In  1759,  he 

accompanied 


Mary  Pbilipse 


The  Man  who  Built  the  House 


17 


accompanied  Wolfe  in  the  expedition  against  Quebec  and  was 
attached  to  the  corps  d^ elite,  the  Louisbourg  grenadiers,  with  whom 
he  participated  in  the  battle  of  the  Plains  of  Abraham;  Major 
Morris  also  performed  good  service  at  the  battle  of  Sillery,  28th 
April,  1760,  in  which  the  French  defeated  the  English.  In  May 
following  he  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Forty- 
seventh  Foot  in  the  place  of  Hale,  appointed  to  the  Eighteenth 
Light  Dragoons,  and  commanded  the  Third  Battalion  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  Montreal  that  summer,  under  General  Murray. 
He  sold  his  commission  and  retired  from  the  army  in  June,  1764, 
when  he  was  elevated  to  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Province, 
in  which  body  he  took  his  seat  on  the  sth  of  December  following. 

Thus  we  find  him  retired  from  the  army  in  1764,  with  an 
ample  fortune  and  a  member  of  the  most  distinguished  legis- 
lative body  in  the  colony.  The  aristocracy  of  New  York  at  that 
time  had  their  fine  country  seats  as  well  as  their  houses  in  the 
city.  Morris's  wife  was  ambitious,  and  no  New  York  family  of 
that  day  could  better  afford  to  have  two  establisliments  than 
the  Morrises.  Frederick  Philipse  had  the  manor  house  at  Yon- 
kers,  and  the  Beverly  Robinsons  had  then,  or  soon  after,  their 
country  home  at  Dobbs  Ferry.  With  his  retirement  to  private 
life,  and  with  the  new  honors  conferred  upon  him,  Morris  seems 
to  have  yielded  to  the  natural  desire  of  an  English  gentleman 
to  provide  himself  with  a  country  seat.  He  left  the  army  in 
June,  1764,  and  just  one  year  afterwards,  in  June,  1765,  the 
farm  on  Harlem  Heights  was  offered  for  sale,  and  it  is  probable 
that  he  came  into  possession  then  of  the  most  desirable  and 
commanding  site  on  the  island  of  Manhattan  for  his  country 
house. 

The  year  1765  found  the  colonies  at  peace  with  the  mother 
country.  The  first  rumblings  of  the  Revolution  had  scarcely 
been  heard.  The  ten  following  years,  during  which  Roger  Mor- 
ris sat  in  the  Legislative  Council  of  the  colony,  included  some  of 
the  happiest  years  of  his  domestic  life.  There  were  four  children 
in  the  family,  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  These  were,  by 
name,  Henry  Gage  Morris ;  Amherst  Morris,  named  for  his  god- 
father. Lord  Amherst;  Joanna  Morris  and  Maria  Morris.  Dur- 
ing this  period  we  hear  little  of  the  doings  of  Roger  Morris,  who 
was,  nevertheless,  a  man  of  affairs  in  the  small  city.  In  Hugh 
Gaine's  "Mercury"  for  May  2,  1768,  we  find  the  following 
advertisement :  — 

To 


His  military 
record 


Wanted —  a 
country  seat 


There  were  four 
children 


i8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


A  tavern  with 
conveniency  for 
entertainment  of 
company 


Members  of  the 
Council 


To  be  let  and  entered  upon  immediately,  The  noted  tavern,  at 
the  sign  of  the  Freemason's  Arms,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Broad- 
way, fronting  the  great  square,  late  the  property  of  John  Jones, 
but  now  belonging  to  the  Hon.  Roger  Morris  Esq.  It  contains  I2 
Fireplaces,  two  large  dancing  Rooms,  with  every  other  Conven- 
iency for  the  Reception  and  Entertainment  of  Company,  and  has 
had  a  great  run  of  business  for  many  years  past.  Whosoever  in- 
clines to  hire  said  house  are  desired  to  apply  to  Andrew  Gautier, 
who  will  agree  for  the  same  on  reasonable  terms. 

The  members  of  the  Legislative  Council  of  the  colony  of 
New  York,  in  1765,  were  as  follows:  Cadwallader  Golden, 
Lieutenant-Governor;  Daniel  Horsmanden,  Ghief  Justice;  John 
Watts,  Oliver  De  Lancey,  Gharles  Ward  Apthorp,  Roger  Mor- 
ris, William  Smith,  Hugh  Wallace,  Henry  White,  William  Ax- 
tell,  and  John  Harris  Cruger. 

Gadwallader  Golden,  at  the  time  Roger  Morris  and  John 
Watts  sailed  for  England,  was  an  old  man  of  seventy-seven  and 
an  ardent  Royalist,  who  had  suffered  for  his  loyalty  to  the 
King.  When  a  cargo  of  the  hated  stamps  was  committed  to  his 
care,  he  placed  them  in  the  fort  for  safe-keeping.  This  so  an- 
gered the  "Liberty  Boys"  that  he  was  burned  in  effigy  and  his 
private  carriage  was  drawn  out  of  the  fort  and  committed  to 
the  flames  before  his  eyes. 

Daniel  Horsmanden,  Ghief  Justice,  was  an  old  servant  of  the 
Crown,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was  infirm  with  years 
and  already  nearing  his  end.  He  died  soon  afterwards  and  was 
buried  in  Trinity  churchyard. 

John  Watts  was  a  man  of  distinction  in  the  colony  and  at  the 
time  he  left  the  country  with  Roger  Morris  was  slated  to  suc- 
ceed Lieutenant-Governor  Golden  as  President  of  the  Council. 
Unlike  his  fellow  exile,  he  took  his  wife  with  him  and  never 
returned  to  America. 

Oliver  De  Lancey  raised  a  regiment  of  loyal  Americans  and 
operated  on  Long  Island  in  1776,  much  to  the  annoyance  of 
Washington.  He  became  a  major-general  in  the  British  army. 
He  was  a  relative  of  Mrs.  Morris,  and  after  the  confiscation  of 
his  estates  in  the  colonies  he  bought  an  estate  in  Yorkshire,  and 
the  Morrises  are  said  to  have  followed  his  lead  in  selecting  York 
for  their  place  of  exile. 

The  members  of  the  Council  were  all  famous  New  Yorkers. 

Charles 


The  Man  who  Built  the  House 


19 


Charles  Ward  Apthorp  was  a  member  of  that  body  from  1763 
to  1783.  He  died  at  his  country  seat  at  Bloomingdale  in  1797. 

William  Smith  owned  a  plantation  up  the  East  River,  which, 
after  the  British  occupation  of  the  city,  was  out  of  their  juris- 
diction, and  he  avoided  taking  sides  for  years  by  retiring  to 
this  property.  In  1778,  however,  the  year  of  Roger  Morris's 
return  to  America,  William  Smith  also  returned  to  his  allegiance 
to  the  Crown. 

Hugh  Wallace,  of  the  Council,  was  arrested  and  sent  a  pris- 
oner to  Middletown,  Connecticut,  in  1776,  where  he  was  an 
exile  with  Frederick  Philipse. 

Henry  White  was  a  general  merchant  in  New  York  and  was 
one  of  the  consignees  of  the  taxed  tea.  He  fled  to  England 
shortly  after  Morris  and  Watts. 

William  Axtell  and  John  Harris  Cruger  were  both  colonels  in 
the  British  service.  The  former  had  a  fine  country  seat  at  Flat- 
bush,  and  both  fell  under  the  ban  of  confiscation,  and  sold  their 
furniture  at  auction  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1783  before 
leaving  the  country. 

When  Washington  took  command  of  the  army  at  Cambridge 
in  January,  1775,  the  Morrises  had  been  married  seventeen 
years.  Whatever  opinion  Roger  Morris  may  have  held  as  to 
the  justice  of  the  cause  of  the  colonists,  he  was  not  ready  to 
enter  into  revolt  against  the  English  Government,  in  whose 
service  he  had  spent  most  of  his  life.  He  was  a  man  of  large 
wealth  and  it  behooved  him  to  look  ahead  and  divine  if  possible 
what  would  be  the  result  of  the  war.  His  position  as  a  member 
of  the  "King's  Council"  jeopardized  his  property.  He  might 
be  obliged  to  sanction  measures  at  the  next  meeting  that  would 
bring  upon  him  the  wrath  of  the  "Liberty  Boys,"  who  loved 
to  bum  the  houses  of  Loyalists.  He  had  not  yet  taken  sides. 
His  wife,  now  a  matron  of  forty-five,  was  quite  capable  of  look- 
ing after  the  family  estate.  She  would  have  no  political  en- 
tanglements. He  believed  that  it  was  only  a  question  of  time 
when  the  home  Government  would  regain  control  of  the  colo- 
nies. He  could  avoid  taking  sides  by  leaving  the  country.  He 
would  not  need  to  stay  away  very  long. 

There  was  another  member  of  the  Council  who  was  evidently 
of  the  same  opinion,  John  Watts,  who,  besides  his  town  house, 

had 


January,  lyys 


Morris  leaves 
the  country 


20 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  Harriet 
packet  tugs  at 
her  anchor 


Lave  letters  of 
an  exile 


had  a  country  house  on  the  Bowery.  Now,  it  happened  that  on 
the  4th  day  of  May,  1775,  the  Harriet  Packet  was  taking  on  the 
mails  for  Falmouth,  and  Roger  Morris  and  John  Watts  seem 
to  have  decided,  while  the  mails  were  being  taken  aboard,  to 
leave  the  country. 
Governor  Golden  wrote  to  Lord  North  by  the  same  packet : — 

...  So  many  gentlemen  have  since  taken  the  resolution  to  go 
over  in  this  Pacquet,  that  your  Lordship  may  have  the  best  In- 
formation from  a  variety  of  Hands.  Mr.  Watts  and  Col.  Morris, 
both  of  the  Council,  have  within  a  few  hours  of  the  Pacquet's 
sailing  taken  their  resolution  to  go. 

The  "New  York  Journal,"  or  the  "General  Advertiser,"  in 
its  weekly  issue  on  Thursday,  May  11,  published  the  fol- 
lowing:— 

Thursday  last  the  Harriet,  Packet,  Capt.  Lee,  sailed  with  the 
Mail  for  Falmouth  in  whom  went  Passengers,  the  Hon.  John 
Watts  and  Roger  Morris,  Esqrs.  Members  of  his  Majesty's  Coun- 
cil for  this  Province. 

Mrs.  Morris  with  her  children  doubtless  occupied  her  country 
home,  "Mount  Morris,"  as  the  family  called  it,  in  the  summer 
of  1775,  and  possibly  in  the  spring  of  1776.  In  the  summer  of 
1776,  New  York  City  was  the  seat  of  war,  and  every  family  that 
could  do-so  left  it.  During  both  summers  Colonel  Morris  was  en- 
during his  self-imposed  exile,  and  how  much  he  longed  for  his 
home  may  be  gathered  from  his  letters  to  his  wife.  Mrs.  Am- 
herst Morris  ^  tells  us  that  he  had  taken  chambers  in  London  so 
as  to  get  the  earliest  news  from  America.  In  one  letter  he  says : 

I  wish  I  could  send  any  public  news  of  interest  that  would  be 
agreeable,  and  could  be  depended  on.  All  expectation  at  present, 
is  upon  what  will  be  done  in  America.  A  most  unhappy  and  un- 
natural contest.  Every  one  I  talk  to  upon  the  subject  say  they 
think  so  too,  but  it  still  continues. 

In  a  later  letter:  — 

God  almighty  grant  that  some  fortunate  circumstance  will 
happen  to  bring  about  a  suspension  of  hostilities.  As  to  myself  I 
breathe  only:  Pleasure  I  can  have  none  until  I  am  back  with  you. 
How  much  I  miss  you!  Your  repeated  marks  of  tender  love  and 
esteem  so  daily  occur  to  my  mind  that  I  am  totally  unhinged. 
Only  imagine  that  I,  who  as  you  well  know,  never  thought  myself 

so 
'  Mrs.  Amherst  Morris  in  the  Hertfordshire  Magazine,  November,  1907. 


Mrs.  Rozer  Morris 


The  Man  who  Built  the  House 


21 


so  happy  anywhere  as  under  my  own  roof,  have  now  no  Home, 
and  am  a  wanderer  from  day  to  day. 

And  again  he  writes  to  his  "dearest  Life":  — 

My  chief  wish  is  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  days  with  you, 
whose  Prudency  is  my  great  comfort,  and  whose  Kindness  in 
sharing  with  patience  and  resignation  those  misfortunes  which 
we  have  not  brought  upon  ourselves  is  never  failing. 

Colonel  Morris  remained  abroad  for  a  period  of  two  years 
and  seven  months,  returning  to  America  late  in  the  autumn  of 
1777.  A  position  was  made  for  him  in  the  military  government 
of  the  city  of  New  York.  As  many  Loyalist  refugees,  who  had 
been  deprived  of  their  property  during  the  war,  were  constantly 
demanding  compensation  from  the  British  Government,  an 
office  was  established  to  adjudicate  their  claims.  Roger  Morris 
was  appointed  Inspector  of  the  Claims  of  Refugees,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel,  and  he  retained  this  position  until  the  treaty  of 
peace  was  signed  in  1783. 

During  his  exile  Colonel  Morris  copied  all  his  letters  to  his 
wife  into  a  book,  before  committing  them  to  what  he  seems  to 
have  regarded  as  the  uncertainty  of  the  mails.  It  was  his  son, 
Henry  Gage  Morris,  rear-admiral  in  the  British  navy  (who 
seems  to  have  been  the  family  iconoclast),  who  destroyed  the 
family  papers  with  a  ruthless  hand.  Mrs.  Amherst  Morris 
writes  to  the  author  in  November,  191 1 :  — 

The  only  documents  preserved  were  in  an  old  book  belonging  to 
Col.  Roger  Morris,  and  in  this  book  the  Colonel  had  made  a  copy 
of  every  letter  written  to  his  wife  during  his  exile.  In  those  trou- 
blous times  it  was  doubtful  whether  his  letters  would  reach  their 
destination,  and  so  he  copied  each  letter  just  after  writing  it  to 
enable  him  to  assure  his  wife  when  they  finally  met,  that  he  had 
missed  no  opportunity  of  writing.  This  ancient  book  was  lent  me 
by  his  grandson,  the  late  Rev.  Adolphus  Morris,  and  I  do  not 
know  into  whose  hands  it  has  fallen.  I  made  a  careful  copy  of  each 
letter,  but  unfortunately  the  book  is,  with  all  my  other  books, 
furniture,  etc.,  in  store. 

Something  of  the  character  of  Roger  Morris  may  be  deter- 
mined from  his  portrait  by  Benjamin  West  and  from  his  pecu- 
liar action  in  leaving  the  country  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revo- 
lution, to  avoid  taking  sides.  His  whole  ambition,  at  that  time, 
was  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the  quiet  of  domestic 

happiness 


To  his  "  dearest 
Life,  .  .  .  whose 
prudency  is  my 
great  comfort" 


Copied  his  letters 
into  a  hook 


Gentle  character 
of  Roger  Morris 


22 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


His  life 
arranged  for  him 


A  decision  of  the 
Philipse  family 


happiness  with  his  wife  and  children,  shifting  his  hearthstone, 
with  the  change  in  the  seasons,  from  one  to  the  other  of  the  two 
houses  he  had  built.  He  only  desired  to  be  left  in  undisturbed 
enjoyment  of  the  vast  property  that  had  come  to  him  with  his 
charming  wife. 

That  he  was  a  kindly  English  gentleman,  a  good  father  and  a 
loving  husband,  is  plainly  evident  in  the  devoted  letters  that 
he  wrote  to  his  wife  during  the  two  years  and  seven  months  of 
their  separation.  His  life,  however,  seems  to  have  been  ar- 
ranged for  him  by  benevolent  interference  over  which  he  had 
no  control.  After  the  English  custom  of  that  day,  in  providing 
a  career  for  younger  sons,  his  family  had  purchased  for  him  a 
commission  in  the  army,  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  when 
what  we  know  of  his  character  would  indicate  that  he  was  bet- 
ter suited  for  a  career  in  the  Church.  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  he  was  a  good  soldier  and  a  faithful  officer,  or  that 
his  service  in  the  army  was  not  an  entirely  creditable  one ;  but 
he  was  certainly  not  what  we  recognize  as  a  born  soldier.  He 
was  not  a  leader  of  men,  and  knowing  as  we  do  the  strong  char- 
acter of  his  wife  it  is  not  likely  that  he  was  even  a  leader  of 
women,  but  rather  a  gentle  and  obedient  husband  in  his  own 
household. 

That  his  rather  questionable  course,  as  a  retired  British 
officer,  in  leaving  the  country  to  avoid  taking  sides  in  the  great 
issue  of  the  Revolution,  was  of  his  own  free  will,  may  be  very 
reasonably  doubted.  It  is  more  likely  that  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Philipse  family,  in  view  of  their  vast  landed  possessions, 
it  was  decided  that  the  one  member  of  the  family  who  was  a 
retired  British  officer  should  exile  himself  before  he  could  be 
drawn  into  the  British  army.  His  wife  had  the  executive  ability 
to  manage  their  vast  property,  and  when  he  made  the  prompt 
decision  on  the  5th  of  May,  1775,  to  sail  in  the  Harriet  Pacquet, 
and  boarded  the  ship  while  she  was  taking  on  the  mails  and 
tugging  at  her  anchor  to  be  off,  it  is  much  more  likely  that  that 
prompt  decision  to  leave  the  country  was  the  decision  of  Mary 
Philipse  than  of  Roger  Morris. 

While  the  Philipses  were  reckoned  as  Tories,  they  showed  no 
disposition  to  take  sides  in  the  early  years  of  the  Revolution. 
They  entertained  American  and  British  officers  alike.   When 

General 


Admiral  Henry  Gage  Morris 


P^i^H 

1 

^1 

^fil^n^^^^k^^^^^^^^^^^^^l  li^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

1 

'ii.j-' ■■:i^'^^^miiWL'^^^y •-^\;?«.^<>fcf.--^^kw^":»vy-:. ::'  "^^^^^^^^^^B 

The  Man  who  Built  the  House 


^3 


General  Howe's  army  returned  from  White  Plains  to  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  Washington,  the  higher  officers  were  guests  at  the 
manor  house,  but  they  were  entertained  with  no  greater  cor- 
diaHty  than  had  been  extended  to  General  Washington  and  his 
staff,  three  weeks  before,  and  which  would  have  been  extended 
again  had  the  opportunity  offered. 

In  his  ten  years'  service  as  a  member  of  the  King's  Council, 
we  hear  of  no  legislation  initiated  by  Roger  Morris  nor  have  we 
any  reason  to  believe  that  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  deliber- 
ations of  that  body.  A  seat  in  the  Council  gave  him  social  dis- 
tinction, and,  as  an  easy-going  English  gentleman,  he  valued  it 
for  that  advantage.  He  was  not  a  leader  of  men.  The  retreating 
chin  and  weak  jaw,  shown  in  the  portrait  by  Benjamin  West, 
bespeak  for  him  only  gentler  and  more  amiable  qualities. 


Ten  years  in  the 
King's  Council 


M 


Betsy  Bouien 


A  forgotten 
tragedy 


CHAPTER  III 

WHEN   WASHINGTON   CAME   TO   THE    HOUSE 

1 

WHEN  General  Washington  took  possession  of  the 
Roger  Morris  house  for  his  mihtary  headquarters, 
Roger  Morris,  its  owner  and  builder,  had  been  for 
more  than  a  year  in  London,  and  Mrs.  Morris, 
with  her  children,  had  already  joined  her  sister-in-law,  Mrs. 
Frederick  Philipse,  in  the  manor  house  at  Yonkers. 

At  the  same  time,  in  this  second  year  of  the  Revolution  and 
the  eleventh  year  of  the  house,  there  lay,  in  a  wretched  room 
in  or  near  the  village  of  Providence,  in  the  colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  a  baby  girl,  the  child  of  poverty  and  vice,  who  was 
destined  to  rival  Mary  Philipse  as  the  mistress  of  the  Roger 
Morris  house,  and  to  give  it  a  new  name  and  a  new  character. 
Mrs.  Morris  had  left  her  house  never  to  return,  but  the  house 
was  not  empty  or  abandoned  on  General  Washington's  arrival. 
It  was  occupied  by  the  officers  of  General  Heath's  great  picket, 
that  had  been  posted  for  ten  miles  along  the  shore  of  the  East 
River  to  watch  for  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  and  whose 
service  had  ended  with  the  landing  of  the  British  the  day 
before.  The  officers  of  the  picket  only  remained  in  the  house  to 
hand  it  over  to  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

The  anticipation  of  the  evacuation  of  New  York  City  had 
stirred  the  patriotism  of  the  army  as  no  crisis  had  stirred  it 
before.  Plans  for  wreaking  vengeance  on  the  invaders  had  gone 
so  far  among  the  troops  that  Washington  was  powerless  to  stem 
the  current,  and  his  arrival  at  the  Morris  house  was  closely 
followed  by  one  of  the  most  important  events  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, which,  although  easily  the  most  tragical  event  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  city  of  New  York,  has  disappeared  from  American 
history  almost  as  completely  as  if  its  happenings  had  never 
been.  I  refer  to  the  unofficial  and  unsuccessful,  but  intensely 

patriotic, 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


^S 


patriotic,  attempt  of  a  few  young  officers  of  the  Continental 
army  to  burn  the  city  of  New  York,  within  the  week  after  the 
British  had  come  into  possession.  The  history  of  this  short 
period  is  full  of  error,  and  in  later  years  the  history  of  the  house 
that  Washington  occupied  for  thirty-three  days  is  a  remarkable 
output  of  romantic  fables,  which  are  trotted  out  periodically 
by  the  newspapers  of  the  day  as  good  history.  These  particular 
fables  were  the  inventions  of  a  woman's  disordered  mind,  at  a 
particular  period,  and  may  be  readily  dismissed  as  such. 

The  errors  in  Revolutionary  history,  during  the  short  period 
when  Washington  occupied  the  Morris  house,  are  not  so  easily 
corrected.  The  reliable  sources  of  information  are  few:  the 
Revolutionary  papers  published  in  the  "American  Archives" 
by  Peter  Force,  the  English  and  American  gazettes  of  the  day,  a 
scrap  of  biography  by  General  Heath,  an  experience  of  Rufus 
Putnam,  a  few  lines  in  the  Clinton  Papers,  and  a  stray  letter  or 
two  written  by  Samuel  Blatchley  Webb,  and  privately  printed, 
pretty  nearly  cover  the  supply  of  facts  in  print.  A  couple  of 
unpublished  letters  (historically  quite  unknown)  throw  a  curi- 
ous light  upon  a  dinner  given  by  General  Washington  in  the 
Roger  Morris  house  during  the  thirty-three  days,  and  afford 
the  only  picture  of  any  social  event  that  took  place  at  his  head- 
quarters. A  few  pages  of  an  unpublished  diary  throw  an  extra 
ray  of  light  upon  doings  outside  the  house. 

Before  coming  to  the  evacuation  of  New  York  City,  it  will  be 
advisable  to  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  conditions  in  the  city 
before  that  event,  and  of  the  feeling  in  the  army  about  evacua- 
tion. Ever  since  the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island,  there  had 
been  a  growing  party  in  favor  of  burning  the  city,  which  it 
was  plain  the  American  army  could  not  hold.  The  strongest 
advocates  of  this  measure  were  the  New  England  troops,  and 
General  Nathanael  Greene,  of  Rhode  Island,  was  the  most  con- 
spicuous leader  in  the  movement.  Many  letters  show  that  the 
British  army  feared  to  see  the  city  in  flames  before  General 
Howe  could  secure  it  for  winter  quarters.  It  would  seem  that 
General  Greene's  arguments  made  a  strong  impression  upon 
General  Washington,  who  laid  the  matter  before  Congress 
and  was  told  that  he  must  not  burn  the  city.  His  hands  were 
therefore  tied,  and  there  was  no  official  hand  in  the  burning. 

It 


Romantic  fables 


A  few  authorities 


Growing  party 
in  favor  of 
burning  the  city 


26 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


A  breakfast  with 
General  Putnam 


Three  men.,  Idle 
spectators.,  killed 
by  one  cannon 
hall 


General  Put- 
nam's quarters 
at  the  Kennedy 
house  still 
undisturbed 


It  was  not  until  Saturday,  the  14th  of  September,  that  Gen- 
eral Washington  put  his  army  in  motion  to  abandon  the  city 
of  New  York  and  retire  behind  the  fortifications  he  had  already 
begun  on  Harlem  Heights.  He  breakfasted  that  morning  at 
General  Putnam's  quarters,  in  the  Kennedy  house,  No.  i, 
Broadway,  with  Messrs.  Collins  and  Stanton  and  Colonel 
Babcock,  a  delegation  from  the  Governor  of  Rhode  Island, 
who  were  his  official  guests. 

Colonel  Babcock,  in  his  report  to  Governor  Cooke,  gives  us 
a  glimpse  of  events  in  the  city  on  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  the 
day  before  the  evacuation.  He  writes :  — 

We  arrived  at  New  York  13th  current;  in  concert  with  John 
Collins,  Esq.,  waited  on  General  Washington,  with  the  other  Gen- 
eral Officers.  Just  after  dinner  three  frigates  and  a  forty  gun  ship 
(as  if  they  meant  to  attack  the  city)  sailed  up  the  East  River, 
under  a  gentle  breeze  towards  Hell  Gate,  and  kept  up  an  incessant 
fire,  assisted  with  the  cannon  at  Governors  Island.  The  batteries 
from  the  city  returned  the  ships  the  like  salutation.  Three  men 
agape,  idle  spectators,  had  the  misfortune  of  being  killed  by  one 
cannon  ball.  The  other  mischief  suffered  on  our  side  was  incon- 
siderable, saving  the  making  a  few  holes  in  some  of  the  buildings. 
One  shot  struck  within  six  foot  of  General  Washington,  as  he  was 
on  horseback  riding  into  the  Fort. 

We  this  day  (being  a  very  busy  time  with  the  officers  of  the 
army)  were  assured  by  the  General  should  have  an  audience  at  six 
o'clock  next  morning.  However  his  Excellency  came  and  break- 
fasted with  us  at  General  Putnam's,  hard  by  the  Fort  where  we 
lodged.  He  further  assured  us  he  would  attend  us  at  General 
Putnam's  an  hour  before  dinner.  He  did  so. 

These  meetings  were  at  General  Putnam's  quarters,  because, 
remaining  in  the  city  with  his  division  as  a  rear  guard  to  cover 
the  removal  of  property,  his  quarters  at  the  Kennedy  house 
were  still  undisturbed,  while  Washington's  were  dismantled. 
In  short,  the  Commander-in-Chief  breakfasted  at  General 
Putnam's  table  because  he  had  no  table  of  his  own,  and  after 
the  interview  "an  hour  before  dinner,"  he  probably  dined  with 
General  Putnam.  By  that  time  his  own  headquarters  baggage 
had  probably  reached  the  Morris  house,  with  the  stafif  servants 
at  hand  to  put  the  house  in  order  and  the  Adjutant-General's 
clerks  to  arrange  his  office  for  business.  It  was  on  that  morning 
that  Colonel  Reed,  the  Adjutant-General,  wrote  to  his  wife: 

"My 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


2.7 


"My  bagage  is  all  at  Kings  Bridge.  We  expect  to  remove 
thither  this  evening.  I  mean  our  Head  Quarters."  At  that  time 
Harlem  Heights  was  called  King's  Bridge. 

Half  an  hour  after  sunset,  then,  on  Saturday  evening,  Sep- 
tember 14,  General  Washington  left  New  York  City  for  the 
village  of  Harlem.  Just  before  starting  he  received  two  letters, 
one  from  Horn's  Hook  and  one  from  General  Mifflin  at  Fort 
Washington,  reporting  unusual  movements  of  the  enemy,  when 
he  says,  in  his  letter  to  Congress,  "I  proceeded  to  Harlem, 
where  it  was  supposed,  or  at  Morrisania,  opposite  to  it,  the 
principal  attempt  to  land  would  be  made." 

It  was  eight  miles  to  Harlem.  We  can  imagine  Washington 
"  proceeding,"  at  the  head  of  his  staff  and  bodyguard  of  light 
horse,  along  the  fragrant  country  road  in  the  early  September 
evening,  now  strung  out  at  a  brisk  gallop  and  now  bunched  up 
as  the  head  of  the  column  reins  in  to  pick  its  way  over  doubtful 
ground. 

The  expected  landing  of  the  British  was  not  made  until 
eleven  o'clock  the  next  morning.  As  to  just  how  or  where  Gen- 
eral Washington  passed  the  night  we  have  no  reliable  informa- 
tion. He  may  have  been  in  the  saddle  the  better  part  of  the 
night,  but  he  evidently  arrived  at  the  Morris  house  before 
morning. 

In  a  letter  to  General  Schuyler,  written  on  the  following  Fri- 
day, he  names  the  day  of  his  arrival.  The  heading  of  the  letter 
is  unusually  long  and  explicit,  evidently  intended  to  leave 
no  possible  doubt  in  General  Schuyler's  mind  as  to  the  exact 
location  of  "Headquarters."    This  peculiar  heading  reads:  — 

Head-Quarters,  Colonel  Roger  Morris's,  ten  miles  from  \ 

New  York,  September  20.  1776  / 

In  the  body  of  the  letter  he  says,  "  I  removed  my  quarters  to 
this  place  on  Sunday  last."  We  know  that  he  was  there  at 
eleven  o'clock  Sunday  morning,  for,  writing  to  Governor  Trum- 
bull on  the  27th,  from  the  Morris  house,  he  says,  "  Having  gone 
from  HENCE  as  soon  as  the  ships  began  their  cannonade,  and 
whither  I  had  come  the  night  before  to  the  main  body  of  our 
army,  in  expectation  of  an  attack  that  night  or  the  next 
morning." 

Explicit 


TVashington 


leaves 
City 


New  Tork 


Eight  miles  to 
Harlem 


Posting  General 
Schuyler 


28 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Occupied  for 
headquarters 
September  i^ 


Colonel  Small- 
wood  to  the 
Maryland 
Convention 


Explicit  as  General  Washington's  statement  seems  to  be  in 
the  letter  to  General  Schuyler,  there  is  still  room  for  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  exact  time  when  he  arrived  at  the  Morris 
house.  Evidently  his  quarters  were  ready  for  him  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  and  had  he  arrived  before  midnight,  his  arrival 
would  have  been  on  the  14th,  yet  Sunday  being  his  first  day  in 
his  new  headquarters,  he  may  have  used  the  expression  he  did 
in  the  Schuyler  letter.  He  had  no  idea  that  the  world  would  be 
weighing  his  words  in  the  twentieth  century.  From  all  the  data 
we  have,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  house  was  occupied  as  head- 
quarters on  Saturday  and  that  Washington  arrived  in  person 
during  the  night. 

General  Washington  in  his  correspondence  has  surprisingly 
little  to  say  about  the  landing  of  the  British  at  Turtle  Bay  and 
the  withdrawal  of  Putnam's  division  from  the  city.  This  was 
the  real  retreat,  while  the  movement  of  the  day  before  was  only 
a  shifting  of  troops  to  confront  a  possible  landing.  The  conduct 
of  his  troops  on  the  retreat  was  not  a  pleasant  subject  to  revert 
to,  and  while  he  writes  very  fully  to  all  his  correspondents  about 
the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  he  barely  mentions  the  disgrace- 
ful behavior  of  the  two  Connecticut  brigades  of  Fellows  and 
Parsons. 

The  report  of  Colonel  Smallwood  to  the  Maryland  Conven- 
tion comes  like  a  voice  from  the  dead  past.  He  says  of  the  re- 
treat from  Kipp's  Bay:  — 

I  could  wish  the  transactions  of  this  day  blotted  out  of  the  an- 
nals of  America.  Nothing  appeared  but  fright,  disgrace  and  con- 
fusion. Let  it  suffice  to  say  that  sixty  Light  Infantry,  upon  the 
first  fire,  put  to  flight  two  brigades  of  the  Connecticut  troops, 
wretches  who,  however  strange  it  may  appear,  from  the  Brigadier 
General  down  to  the  private  sentinel,  were  caned  and  whipped 
by  the  Generals  Washington,  Putnam  and  Mifflin,  but  even  this 
indignity  had  no  weight,  they  could  not  be  brought  to  stand  one 
shot. 

Washington  rode  from  the  Morris  house  that  morning  at 
eleven  o'clock,  as  he  tells  us,  when  he  heard  the  guns  of  the 
British  ships  covering  the  landing.  It  was  a  rough  ride  of  eight 
or  nine  miles,  by  poor  roads  over  a  hilly  country,  that  must 
have  tried  the  mettle  of  the  fine  Virginia  mounts  ridden  by  the 
staff.  It  was  a  trying  day  for  Washington,  and  only  the  slow- 
ness 


George  Washington 

from  a  portrait  by  Charles  Wtlson  Peale 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


29 


ness  of  the  enemy's  advance  across  the  island  made  it  possible 
successfully  to  withdraw  General  Putnam's  division  from  the 
city.  Some  of  the  last  of  the  troops  were  only  saved  from  cap- 
ture by  moving  west  and  then  north  under  the  cover  of  the  hills 
sloping  to  the  Hudson,  and  it  was  after  dark  and  in  the  rain 
when  the  troops  settled  into  camp  on  Harlem  Heights. 

The  enemy,  elated  and  encouraged  by  the  ease  with  which 
they  had  put  the  Connecticut  troops  to  flight  on  Sunday,  on 
Monday  morning  pushed  out  a  reconnoitering  column  from 
their  Bloomingdale  front,  expressing  their  contempt  for  their 
adversary  by  blowing  a  fox-hunting  call  on  their  bugles.  They 
were  out  for  a  morning's  sport. 

Just  how  far  north  the  British  came  in  their  first  assault,  or 
to  what  exact  point  the  enemy  was  pursued  before  the  Ameri- 
can troops  were  called  off,  or  precisely  where  the  "buckwheat 
field  "  was,  or  where  the  thirty-three  bodies  were  buried,  or  even 
where  the  remains  of  those  gallant  oflScers,  Knowlton  and 
Leach,  rest,  are  matters  of  controversy.  The  indefinite  knowl- 
edge we  have  of  the  exact  limits  of  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights 
off^ers  a  very  significant  commentary  on  the  character  of  our 
Revolutionary  history. 

The  most  important  contemporary  accounts  were  made  by 
General  Washington  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Cooke,  of  Rhode 
Island,  written  on  the  17th  of  September,  the  day  after  the 
battle,  and  his  report  to  Congress  on  the  i8th;  the  letter  of 
General  George  Clinton  to  the  New  York  Convention,  on  the 
1 8th;  and  the  account  of  the  experiences  of  Lieutenant  Samuel 
Richards,  who  commanded  a  "covering  party  over  the  fatigue 
men  who  buried  the  dead." 

General  Washington  must  have  been  astir  early  on  that  Mon- 
day morning,  for  he  had  made  a  draft  of  his  letter  to  Congress 
for  his  secretary  to  put  into  form  describing  the  retreat  of  Sun- 
day, before  he  walked  out  of  the  Morris  house  to  mount  his 
horse  and  gallop  down  the  King's  Bridge  Road  toward  the 
sound  of  the  firing. 

The  letter  was  dispatched  with  the  following  apology  to 
Congress :  — 

P.S.  Sir:  The  above  letter  is  merely  a  copy  of  a  rough  one 
sketched  only  by  his  Excellency  this  morning,  and  who  intended 

to 


After  dark  and 
in  the  rain 


Huntingfoxts 


General  Wash- 
ington gallops 
down  the  King's 
Bridge  Road 


30 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


"  About  two  and 
a  half  miles  from 
hence" 


Attack  begun 
too  soon 


to  sign  it;  but  having  rode  out,  and  his  return  or  where  to  find  him 
uncertain,  I  have  sent  it  away  without.  And  I  have  the  honour  to 
be,  Sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

Robert  H.  Harrison. 

Rather  oddly  Washington  begins  his  report  to  Congress, 
"About  the  time  of  the  posts  departure  with  my  letter,  the 
enemy  appeared  in  several  large  bodies  upon  the  plains,  about 
two  and  a  half  miles  from  hence."  This  certainly  throws  no 
light  on  the  exact  time  of  the  enemy's  appearance,  for  they  had 
evidently  made  their  appearance  on  the  plain  before  he  left  the 
Morris  house,  and  the  post  left  with  his  letter  still  later.  The 
"two  and  a  half  miles  from  hence,"  would  be  the  point  where 
they  emerged  on  the  plain  from  McGowan's  Pass,  at  what  is 
now  iioth  Street.  He  continues:  — 

I  rode  down  to  our  advanced  posts,  to  put  matters  in  a  proper 
situation,  if  they  should  attempt  to  come  on.  When  I  arrived  there 
I  heard  a  firing,  which,  I  was  informed,  was  between  a  party  of 
our  Rangers  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Knowlton, 
and  an  advanced  party  of  the  enemy.  Our  men  came  in  and  told 
me  that  the  body  of  the  enemy,  who  kept  themselves  concealed, 
consisted  of  about  three  hundred,  as  near  as  they  could  guess.  I 
immediately  ordered  three  companies  of  Colonel  Weedon's  regi- 
ment from  Virginia,  under  the  command  of  Major  Leitch,  and 
Colonel  Knowlton  with  his  Rangers,  composed  of  volunteers  from 
different  New  England  regiments,  to  try  to  get  in  their  rear,  while 
a  disposition  was  making  as  if  to  attack  them  in  front,  and  thereby 
draw  their  whole  attention  that  way. 

This  took  effect  as  I  wished  on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  On  the 
appearance  of  our  party  in  front,  they  Immediately  ran  down  the 
hill,  took  possession  of  some  fences  and  bushes,  and  a  smart  firing 
began,  but  at  too  great  a  distance  to  do  much  execution  on  either 
side.  The  parties  under  Colonel  Knowlton  and  Major  Leitch 
unluckily  began  their  attack  too  soon,  as  It  was  rather  in  flank 
than  in  rear.  In  a  little  time  Major  Leitch  was  brought  off 
wounded,  having  received  three  balls  through  his  side;  and  in  a 
short  time  after  Colonel  Knowlton  got  a  wound,  which  proved 
mortal.  Their  men,  however,  persevered,  and  continued  the  en- 
gagement with  the  greatest  resolution.  Finding  that  they  wanted 
a  support,  I  advanced  part  of  Colonel  Griffith's  and  Colonel  Rich- 
ardson's Maryland  regiments,  with  some  detachments  from  the 
Eastern  regiments,  who  were  nearest  the  place  of  action.  The 
troops  charged  the  enemy  with  great  intrepidity,  and  drove  them 
from  the  wood  Into  the  plain,  and  were  pushing  them  from  thence, 
having  silenced  their  fire  in  a  great  measure,  when  \  judged  it  pru- 
dent 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


31 


dent  to  order  a  retreat,  fearing  the  enemy,  as  I  have  since  found 
was  really  the  case,  were  sending  a  large  body  to  support  their  party. 
Major  Leitch  I  am  in  hopes  will  recover;  but  Colonel  Knowl- 
ton's  fall  is  much  to  be  regretted,  as  that  of  a  brave  and  good  offi- 
cer. We  had  about  forty  wounded;  the  number  of  slain  is  not  yet 
ascertained;  but  is  very  inconsiderable.  By  a  Sergeant,  who  de- 
serted from  the  enemy  and  came  in  this  morning,  I  find  that  their 
party  was  greater  than  I  imagined.  It  consisted  of  the  Second  Bat- 
talion of  Light  Infantry,  a  battalion  of  the  Royal  Highlanders,  and 
three  companies  of  the  Hessian  Riflemen,  under  the  command  of 
Brigadier  General  Leslie.  The  deserter  reports  that  their  loss  in 
wounded  and  missing  was  eighty  nine,  and  eight  killed.  In  the  lat- 
ter, his  account  is  too  small,  as  our  people  discovered  and  buried 
double  that  number.  This  affair  I  am  in  hopes  will  be  attended 
with  many  salutary  consequences,  as  it  seems  to  have  greatly  in- 
spirited the  whole  of  our  troops.  The  Sergeant  further  adds,  that 
a  considerable  body  of  men  are  now  encamped  from  the  East  to 
the  North  River,  between  the  seven  and  eight  mile-stones,  under 
the  command  of  General  Clinton.  General  Howe,  he  believes,  has 
his  quarters  at  Mr.  Apthorp's  house. 

Lieutenant  Samuel  Richards,  who  had  been  working  all  night 
"in  throwing  up  a  slight  entrenchment  on  the  brow  of  the  hill 
at  Harlem  Heights  in  full  expectation  of  being  attacked  by  the 
enemy  in  the  morning,"  writes,  "When  the  sun  arose  I  saw  the 
enemy  in  the  plain  below  us,  at  the  distance  of  about  a  mile, 
forming  in  a  line." 

This  was  again  as  they  emerged  from  McGowan's  Pass.  He 
says,  "the  loss  on  our  side  was  about  thirty  killed  and  about 
sixty  or  seventy  wounded."  He  should  know,  for  he  buried  the 
dead.  He  continues:  — 

The  next  day  I  had  a  mournful  duty  assigned  to  me  —  the  com- 
mand of  a  covering  party  over  the  fatigue  men  who  buried  the 
dead  which  had  fallen  in  the  action  the  previous  day  I  placed  my- 
self and  party  on  a  small  eminence  so  as  to  see  the  men  at  their 
work,  and  to  discover  the  enemy  should  they  approach  to  inter- 
rupt them.  There  were  thirty  three  bodies  found  on  the  field;  they 
were  drawn  to  a  large  hole  which  was  prepared  for  the  purpose  and 
buried  together. 

General  Clinton  was  somewhat  later  on  the  ground,  as  he  had 
to  ride  down  from  King's  Bridge.  He  writes  to  the  New  York 
Convention :  — 

On  Monday  morning,  at  about  ten  o'clock,  a  party  of  the  enemy, 
consisting  of  Highlanders,  Hessians,  Light  Infantry,  Grenadiers 

and 


The  deserter 
reports 


Lieutenant 
Samuel  Richards 


A  mournful  duty 


3^ 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


At  Martji 
Davit's  Fly 


The  glimmer  of 
lanterns 


Ebenezer 
Leffngwell 


and  English  troops,  (number  uncertain)  attacked  our  advanced 
party,  commanded  by  Colonel  Knowlton,  at  Martje  Davit's  Fly. 
They  were  opposed  with  spirit,  and  soon  made  to  retreat  to  a  cir- 
cular field,  south  west  of  that  about  two  hundred  paces,  where 
they  lodged  themselves  behind  a  fence  covered  with  bushes.  Our 
people  attacked  them  in  front,  caused  them  to  retreat  a  second 
time,  leaving  five  dead  on  the  spot.  We  pursued  them  to  a  buck- 
wheat field  on  the  top  of  a  high  hill,  distant  about  four  hundred 
paces,  where  they  received  a  considerable  re-enforcement,  with 
several  field  pieces,  and  there  made  a  stand.  A  very  brisk  action 
ensued  at  this  place  which  continued  about  two  hours.  Our  people 
at  length  worsted  them  a  third  time,  caused  them  to  fall  back  into 
an  orchard,  from  thence  across  a  hollow,  and  up  another  hill  not 
far  distant  from  their  own  lines. 

It  will  be  observed,  after  the  panic  in  the  two  New  England 
brigades  on  Sunday,  which  almost  drove  Washington  to  de- 
spair of  meeting  regulars  with  volunteers,  when  on  Monday 
morning  he  was  "insolently"  attacked  (with  the  exception  of 
Knowlton's  Rangers),  he  put  his  trust  in  the  Southern  troops. 

One  can  imagine  the  glimmer  of  lanterns  about  the  house  and 
stables  at  headquarters  on  the  night  following  the  battle,  and 
the  lighted  windows,  that  only  grew  pale  as  the  day  dawned, 
while  busy  men  were  bringing  the  wounded  back  to  Dr.  Mor- 
gan's hospital.  Colonel  Knowlton  was  borne  from  the  field  by 
Adjutant-General  Reed,  who  dismounted  and  placed  him  on  his 
own  horse.  Major  Leitch  was  also  mortally  wounded  at  about 
the  same  time,  but  survived  in  hospital  for  more  than  a  week. 
Although  not  much  of  a  battle,  the  success  of  the  day  and  the 
gallant  behavior  of  the  American  troops  put  new  heart  into  the 
army  and  greatly  improved  the  feeling  at  headquarters,  where 
the  disgraceful  retreat  of  the  day  before  had  left  a  feeling  of 
depression  and  distrust  amounting  almost  to  despair. 

Almost  at  the  beginning  of  this  engagement,  an  event  took 
place  in  the  rear  that  at  least  has  the  merit  of  the  picturesque, 
and  which  was  followed  by  a  court  martial  and  just  missed 
ending  in  an  execution.  As  the  Adjutant-General  was  riding 
back  for  reinforcements  he  came  upon  one  Ebenezer  Leffingwell 
skulking  to  the  rear.  I  quote  from  Colonel  Reed's  testimony 
at  the  trial,  on  the  19th  of  September:  — 

On  Monday  forenoon  I  left  Colonel  Knowlton,  with  a  design  to 
send  him  a  reinforcement.    I  had  accordingly  ordered  up  Major 

Leitch, 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


33 


Leitch,  and  was  going  up  to  where  the  firing  was,  when  I  met  the 
prisoner  running  away  from  where  the  firing  was,  with  every  mark 
of  trepidation  and  fear.  I  followed  him,  and  ordered  him  back 
after  striking  him;  he  promised  to  return  and  went  on  into  the 
bushes.  A  little  after  I  saw  him  running  off  again,  and  pursued 
him  and  came  up  to  him  and  struck  him  with  my  hanger,  and 
wounded  him  in  the  head  and  hand.  He  bade  me  keep  oil  or  he 
would  shoot  me;  he  presented  his  piece,  and  I  think  snapped  his 
piece  at  me.  I  found  him  after  this  lying  in  a  ditch;  on  his  seeing 
me  he  fell  to  bellowing  out  and  I  should  have  shot  him  could  I 
have  got  my  gun  off. 

The  court  martial  found  the  prisoner  guilty  of  "Misbehaving 
before  the  enemy  and  of  presenting  his  musket  at  Colonel 
Reed,"  and  sentenced  him  to  death.  General  Washington  was 
disposed  to  make  this  case  an  example  to  the  army  and  ordered 
his  execution  on  Monday  morning,  September  23,  at  eleven 
o'clock.  The  order  was  carried  out  in  so  far  that  all  the  regi- 
ments below  King's  Bridge  were  marched  to  the  "grand  parade, 
near  Kortright's  house,"  to  see  the  execution.  General  Orders 
of  the  24th  state  that  the  prisoner  was  pardoned  at  the  last 
moment,  at  the  intercession  of  Colonel  Reed.  We  find  in  a  Har- 
lem letter  of  September  26  that  Leffingwell,  of  Norwich,  was 
"brought  to  the  field,  was  fixed  on  his  knees,  and  while  the 
guards  were  waiting  to  execute  the  decree,  the  General  sent  a 
pardon,  declaring  never  to  forgive  another." 

Washington's  staff  was  thoroughly  reorganized  for  the  New 
York  campaign.  Dr.  John  Morgan,  Director  of  Hospitals,  who 
was  a  civilian  and  not  an  officer  at  all,  was  the  only  member  of 
the  staff  who  was  retained  in  his  original  capacity.  Joseph 
Reed,  who  had  been  Military  Secretary,  gave  way  to  Harrison, 
and  was  himself  made  Adjutant-General  of  the  Continental 
army,  by  an  act  of  Congress.  Moylan  and  Palfry,  who  had  been 
aides-de-camp  in  Cambridge,  were  made  Quartermaster-Gen- 
eral and  Paymaster-General  respectively.  Grayson,  Cary,  and 
Webb,  who  were  new  men,  were  made  full  aides,  while  Tilgh- 
man  was  only  a  volunteer  aide,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  and, 
like  Washington,  was  serving  without  pay.  Rufus  Putnam  and 
Gunning  Bedford  were  new  appointments,  while  in  the  Morris 
house,  Stephen  Moylan  resigned  as  Quartermaster-General,  at 
the  request  of  the  Committee  from  Congress,  and  General 

Mifflin 


Running  away 


Leffingwell  is 
pardoned 


Changes  in  the 
staff 


34 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Members  of  the 


JVho  may  deliver 
the  General's 

orders 


Fond  of  company 
and  gayety 


Mifflin  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  As  reorganized,  the  staff  was 
as  follows:  Colonel  Joseph  Reed,  Adjutant-General;  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Robert  H.  Harrison,  Military  Secretary;  Colonel 
William  Grayson,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Samuel  B.  Webb, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Richard  Cary,  Aides-de-Camp ;  Lieutenant 
Tench  Tilghman,  Volunteer  Aide;  Colonel  Stephen  Moylan, 
Quartermaster-General;  Colonel  Joseph  Trumbull,  Commis- 
sary-General; Colonel  William  Palfry,  Paymaster-General; 
Colonel  Gunning  Bedford,  Mustermaster-General ;  Dr.  John 
Morgan,  Director  of  Hospitals ;  Colonel  Rufus  Putnam,  Chief 
Engineer. 

At  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  as  before  stated,  conflicting 
orders  brought  the  flanking  party  under  Knowlton  in  on  the 
enemy's  flank  instead  of  his  rear,  and  in  General  Orders  of  the 
following  day,  Washington  announced  who  of  the  staff  were 
competent  to  give  his  orders :  "  the  Army  is  now  acquainted  that 
the  General's  orders  are  delivered  by  the  Adjutant-General,  or 
one  of  his  Aides-de-Camp,  Mr.  Tilghman,  or  Colonel  Moylan, 
the  Quartermaster-General." 

Samuel  Blatchley  Webb  seems  to  have  been  a  selection  of  the 
Adjutant-General  for  work  in  his  office.  He  came  from  General 
Putnam's  staff.  In  a  rather  amusing  letter  to  Reed,  shortly 
before  the  appointment.  General  Washington  writes:^ — 

You  mention  Mr.  Webb  in  one  of  your  letters  as  an  assistant. 
He  will  be  agreeable  enough  to  me  if  you  think  him  qualified  for 
the  business.  What  kind  of  a  hand  he  writes  I  know  not  —  I  be- 
lieve but  a  cramped  one;  latteriy  none  at  all,  as  he  has  had  either 
the  gout  or  rheumatism  or  both.  He  is  a  man  fond  of  company 
and  gayety  and  is  of  a  tender  constitution. 

In  the  light  of  this  letter  it  is  rather  amusing  to  read  in 
Webb's  diary  the  frequent  entries  recording  his  social  evenings 
with  the  girls,  and  on  one  occasion  he  records,  "Drinking  wine 
last  evening  with  General  Putnam." 

Sir  George  Otto  Trevelyan,  somewhere  in  his  "History  of  the 
.\merican  Revolution,"  says  that  Washington  had  but  three 
aides,  unless  his  secretary,  Harrison,  be  counted  as  one,  and 
that  they  were  all  young  Virginians.  This  would  seem  to  omit 
Webb,  who  was  a  Connecticut  man,  from  service  as  an  aide,  but 

he 

*  Correspondence  and  Journal  of  Samuel  Blatchley  Webb  (privately  printed). 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


35 


he  was  certainly  one  of  the  aides  designated  to  carry  the  Gen- 
eral's orders  on  the  battlefield.  If  not  a  prime  favorite  of  Wash- 
ington, he  was  a  member  of  his  military  family,  as  the  General 
loved  to  designate  the  officers  who  lived  with  him  and  sat  at  his 
table,  which  by  no  means  included  the  whole  of  his  staff.  It 
probably  consisted  of  his  aides,  his  military  secretary,  and  the 
Adjutant-General.  The  duties  of  the  other  members  of  the 
staff  kept  them  moving  among  the  widely  scattered  posts  of  the 
Continental  army.  The  Medical  Director  was  a  civilian,  with- 
out military  rank.  Colonel  Moylan,  the  Quartermaster,  al- 
though close  enough  to  Washington  to  carry  his  orders  on  the 
field,  had  his  lodgings  near  "Kortright's  house,"  The  Com- 
missary, Paymaster  and  Mustermaster  Generals  and  the  Chief 
Engineer  might  be  anywhere  between  Boston  and  Philadelphia. 
So  with  a  limited  number  of  officers  regularly  to  lodge  in  the 
Morris  house,  General  Washington  could  occupy  as  many 
rooms  as  the  dignity  of  his  office  and  the  nature  of  his  work 
required. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  note  the  activities  of  a  day  at  head- 
quarters. Much  of  the  official  routine  may  be  gathered  from  a 
careful  study  of  Washington's  General  Orders.  The  post-rider, 
carrying  the  mail  to  the  Convention  at  Fishkill,  rode  away 
every  morning  at  daybreak  after  waiting  on  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Hazzard,  the  postmaster  of  New  York,  whose  office,  if  not  in 
the  house,  was  somewhere  on  the  grounds. 

Working  parties  for  the  fortifications  paraded  before  head- 
quarters as  early  as  six  o'clock. 

When  there  were  trials  by  court  martial,  the  court  assembled 
in  the  great  parlor  at  nine  o'clock,  and  the  prisoners  were  then 
brought  in  from  the  guardroom.  The  Adjutant-General  and 
Colonel  Webb,  with  their  clerks,  were  busy  in  the  front  office, 
and  if  General  Washington  was  not  on  some  tour  of  inspection 
with  Tilghman,  his  favorite  aide,  his  quill  pen  was  at  work  in 
the  little  office  above  and  out  of  hearing  of  the  court,  with  his 
secretaries,  and  three  of  his  aides  were  secretaries  as  soon  as 
they  were  out  of  the  saddle.  While  in  the  Morris  House,  Alex- 
ander Contee  Hanson,  a  young  Marylander,  was  added  to 
the  working  force  as  Assistant  Secretary. 

Every  morning  twelve  or  thirteen  first  sergeants,  from  as 

many 


Hh  military 
family 


A  day  at 
headquarters 


The  court 
assembled  in  the 
great  parlor  at 
nine  o'clock 


36 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


In  their  best 
clothes 


Dinner  at  three 
o'clock 


Colonel  Silliman 
says 


many  companies,  reported  at  headquarters  for  a  day  of  guard 
duty  under  the  eyes  of  the  staff.  They  came  in  their  best 
clothes,  with  their  dinner  in  their  pockets,  and  left  with  their 
heads  full  of  military  knowledge  to  take  back  to  their  companies. 

The  brigade-majors,  who  did  the  duty  of  assistant  adjutant- 
generals  to  their  brigades,  arrived  at  headquarters  at  twelve 
o'clock  and  delivered  their  reports  to  Adjutant-General  Reed. 
These  morning  reports  had  been  received  by  the  brigade- 
majors  from  the  adjutants  of  the  regiments,  who  had  received 
theirs  from  the  orderly  sergeants  of  the  companies.  While  at  the 
Morris  house  Washington  had  some  thirteen  brigades,  which 
were  already  formed  into  divisions,  but  Congress  had  not  yet 
authorized  assistant  adjutant-generals  for  the  divisions,  so  the 
reports  had  to  be  made  by  the  brigades  over  the  heads  of  the 
new  major-generals. 

General  Washington  dined  at  three  o'clock,  and  doubtless 
maintained  a  generous  Virginia  hospitality  at  his  table.  Besides 
the  six  or  more  members  of  his  military  family,  there  were  al- 
ways official  guests.  The  brigadier  and  officer  of  the  day  and 
the  brigade-major  of  the  day  had  a  standing  invitation,  when 
on  duty,  to  dine  at  headquarters,  and  the  invitation  was  almost 
a  command.  Other  members  of  the  staff,  happening  at  head- 
quarters, distinguished  visitors  to  the  army,  and  the  general 
officers  and  colonels  were  frequent  guests.  Colonel  Silliman 
says  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  on  October  lo:^  — 

General  Washington's  servant  has  this  Minit  been  in  with  a 
Billet  for  me  and  my  two  field  officers  to  come  and  dine  with  him 
this  day.  Very  extraordinary  this.  I  am  often  invited  myself  but 
I  have  never  had  the  invitation  extended  beyond  myself  before. 

The  General  Orders,  inspired  by  Washington,  and  issued 
daily  over  the  signature  of  the  Adjutant-General,  were  pre- 
pared in  the  afternoon  and  published  at  six  o'clock  guard 
mounting.  The  parole  and  countersign  were  not  written  on  the 
orders,  as  we  find  them  now  in  print,  but  these  two  secret  pass- 
words, mainly  for  use  on  the  outposts,  were  delivered  in  strict- 
est confidence  by  the  Adjutant-General,  at  six  o'clock,  to  the 
brigade  majors  and  to  the  adjutant  of  the  artillery  regiment ; 
"  they,  at  relief  beating,  and  not  before,  delivered  them  to  the 

adjutants 

*  Manuscript  letter  In  the  possession  of  Miss  Henrietta  Hubbard. 


The  Evolution  of  the  American  Flag 


The  First  American  Flag 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


37 


adjutants  of  their  brigades."  The  adjutants  delivered  them  to 
the  field  officers,  if  required,  and  then  to  the  officer  of  every 
guard  post. 

A  curious  flag  floated  over  the  house  during  the  time  that 
Washington  occupied  it  —  a  flag  quite  unknown  to  most  Amer- 
icans of  this  day.  It  showed  on  its  folds  the  British  Union 
Jack  and  thirteen  red  and  white  stripes.  In  London  it  was 
called  "The  Rebellious  Stripes." 

During  the  long  colonial  period  we  had  lived  under  the  Brit- 
ish flag,  and  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  have  a  flag  of  our  own,  the  thirteen  stripes 
replaced  the  red  of  the  old  flag,  but,  strangely  enough,  the 
Union  Jack  was  retained.  The  Union  Jack  was  not  only  mean- 
ingless on  the  new  flag,  but  it  was  the  symbol  of  the  confeder- 
ated enemy,  and  could  only  have  been  retained  for  want  of  the 
inspiration  to  put  something  else  in  its  place. 

The  original  thirteen  stars  displaced  the  Union  Jack  on  June 
14,  1777.  It  has  been  claimed  by  an  English  authority  that  the 
stars  and  stripes  on  the  American  flag  were  adopted  from 
the  Washington  coat  of  arms,  which  shows  three  five-pointed 
stars  and  three  bars  of  alternate  red  and  white.  If  this  had  been 
the  case  the  stars  and  the  stripes  would  have  made  a  simultane- 
ous appearance  and  the  retention  of  the  hated  Union  Jack  for 
two  and  a  half  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  stripes  would  not 
have  followed. 

Six  months  before  the  Revolution  the  Philadelphia  First 
Troop  of  Cavalry  had  raised  its  flag  having  thirteen  stripes, 
blue  and  white,  in  the  corner  of  its  banner.  This  was  the  first 
appearance  of  the  thirteen  stripes  on  any  flag.  The  Philadel- 
phia First  Troop  escorted  Washington  from  Philadelphia  to 
Boston  to  assume  command  of  the  army,  and  their  flag  was 
carried  at  the  head  of  the  column. 

A  curious  piece  of  chintz,  made  in  France  at  this  early  period, 
its  pattern  evidently  inspired  by  Franklin,  shows  Washington 
driving  a  pair  of  leopards  to  a  chariot,  in  which  America,  an 
Indian  maiden,  is  seated  behind  him,  holding  a  shield  on  which 
is  the  date  1776.  In  front  of  the  leopards  are  two  Indians,  one 
carrying  a  flag  bearing  the  Franklin  device  of  the  snake  divided 
into  thirteen  parts,  and  the  other  a  flag  of  thirteen  stripes. 

Passing 


A  curious  flag 


The  JJniin  Jack 
and  thirteen 
stripes 


A  piece  ef  chintz. 


38 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Franklin  and 
the  Goddess  of 
Liberty 


Washington  at 
forty-four 


As  Colonel 
Trumbull  saw 
him 


Passing  in  the  opposite  direction,  beyond  the  chariot  and  turn- 
ing to  fall  in  behind  it,  is  the  Philadelphia  First  Troop  carrying 
at  its  head  a  flag  of  thirteen  stripes  alongside  the  French  stand- 
ard showing  the  fleur-de-lis.  Above  this  group  and  completing 
the  pattern  is  Franklin,  himself,  with  the  Goddess  of  Liberty, 
following  the  thirteen  stars  on  a  shield  borne  by  Mercury  up  to 
Fame,  who  is  blowing  two  trumpets  at  the  entrance  to  her 
temple. 

At  the  period  this  piece  of  chintz  stands  for,  the  American 
flag  had  the  Union  Jack  in  place  of  its  field  of  stars,  and  this 
allegory  would  seem  to  suggest  the  adoption  of  the  stars  on  the 
flag,  if  it  does  not  go  still  further  and  indicate  Franklin  as  the 
first  American  who  suggested  the  stars. 

At  the  time  when  General  Washington  occupied  the  Morris 
house  he  was  forty-four  years  old,  still  a  young  man.  That  he 
was  a  tall,  athletic  figure,  large-boned,  with  big  hands  and  feet, 
is  a  fact  well  attested,  but  in  view  of  the  great  variety  of  his 
pictures,  it  is  difficult  to  image  in  one's  mind  the  young  General 
as  he  moved  about  the  halls  and  passed  in  and  out  of  the  rooms 
in  the  house  of  Roger  Morris,  or  mounted  his  horse  at  the  en- 
trance and  rode  abroad  with  his  staff,  or  sat  alone  late  into 
the  autumn  night,  writing,  by  the  flickering  light  of  candles, 
those  letters  beginning,  "  Head  Quarters,  Col.  Roger  Morris's 
House,  ten  Miles  from  New  York." 

Colonel  John  Trumbull's  heroic  picture  of  Washington  at 
Trenton,  which  represents  him  standing,  hat  in  hand,  watching 
the  battle  from  a  little  hillock,  behind  which  his  orderly  in  a 
trooper's  helmet  is  seen  holding  his  horse,  depicts  the  young 
General  as  his  gifted  aide  saw  him  but  a  few  weeks  after  he  left 
the  Morris  house.  In  the  William  Lanier  Washington  Collec- 
tion, now  hanging  in  the  dining-room  of  the  house,  is  a  half- 
life-size  head  attributed  to  Trumbull,  but  whether  it  was 
painted  by  Trumbull  or  by  another,  it  was  painted  from  the 
head  in  the  Trumbull  picture.  It  is  solidly  painted  on  a  panel, 
and  only  differs  from  its  prototype  in  the  restoration  of  the 
cocked  hat  to  its  place  on  the  General's  head,  and  looks  down 
from  the  wall  on  the  scene  of  many  a  staff  dinner  in  the  Morris 
house  dining-room,  where  it  remains  to  personate  the  General 
Washington  of  forty-four. 

The 


Washington  Comes  to  the  House 


The  Boston  Athenaeum  portrait  by  Stuart,  which  is  the  uni- 
versally accepted  Washington,  is  neither  the  General  nor  even 
the  President,  but  the  old  man,  the  Father  of  his  Country,  if 
you  please,  in  his  declining  years.  It  was  foisted  on  his  country- 
man by  a  mere  happening.  It  was  reproduced  by  Stuart  only 
because  he  happened  to  have  that  particular  portrait  on  his 
easel  when  Washington  died,  the  background  still  unfinished, 
which  enabled  him  to  keep  it  to  paint  from.  He  reproduced  it 
many  times,  and  after  his  death,  his  daughter,  Miss  Mary 
Stuart,  who  lived  at  Newport,  continued  its  reproduction  to  the 
satisfaction  of  many  patrons. 

The  Gibbs-Channing-Avery  portrait,  painted  by  Stuart  a 
few  years  earlier,  was  more  dignified  —  was  rather  Washington 
the  President,  and  doubtless  Stuart  would  have  preferred  to 
paint  it  if  he  had  had  the  original  at  hand.  Stuart  was  such  a 
master  of  color  that  every  head  that  came  from  his  brush  was  a 
delight,  whether  it  was  a  portrait  or  not.  Probably  the  portraits 
by  Charles  Wilson  Peale,  of  the  same  period  as  the  Athenaeum 
portrait,  are  truer  portraits  of  Washington. 

There  are  word-pictures  of  Washington  that  tell  us  that  his 
face  bore  the  marks  of  smallpox.  Such  a  blemish  would  not 
be  a  very  flattering  feature  for  a  portrait-painter  to  reproduce, 
and  indeed  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  his  art,  however 
realistic  he  might  wish  to  be. 

A  singular  and  very  graphic  word-picture  of  Washington  has 
just  come  to  the  author's  knowledge  as  the  observation  of  a 
child,  very  frankly  expressed  after  the  manner  of  a  child.  Little 
Sarah  Adams  was  ten  years  old  in  1783.  She  was  a  cousin  of 
Governor  Tompkins  and  lived  in  the  village  of  Pleasantville, 
near  White  Plains.  When  the  little  army  from  Newburgh  was 
passing  through  Pleasantville,  on  the  way  to  Fraunces's  Tav- 
ern, Sarah  Adams  ran  down  to  the  gate  to  see  General  Washing- 
ton, who  in  her  childish  enthusiasm  she  regarded  as  a  being  al- 
most superhuman.  A  drizzling  rain  was  falling,  and  what  she 
saw  was  the  General  seated  in  a  sulky  driving  the  horse.  His 
uniform  was  covered  by  a  greatcoat  with  capes,  and  his  pow- 
dered hair  was  protected  by  a  bandanna  handkerchief  bound 
around  his  head  under  his  cocked  hat.  She  distinctly  saw  that 
his  nose  was  red  and  his  face  was  pock-marked.   This  is  a 

glimpse 


39 


The  Boston 
Athtnaum 
portrait 


The  Gibbs- 
Channing-Avery 
portrait 


A  word-picture 
by  little  Sarah 
Adams 


40 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  Wash- 
ington being  now 
settled  at  the 
Morris  House 


glimpse  of  Washington  at  fifty-one,  seven  years  after  he  had 
left  the  Morris  house,  and  shows  that  he  had  no  intention  of 
meeting  the  Van  Cortlandt  ladies  that  evening  in  a  water- 
soaked  uniform  and  a  face  streaked  with  powder. 

Having  now  settled  General  Washington  under  his  peculiar 
flag  in  his  headquarters  at  the  Roger  Morris  house,  we  will 
return  to  conditions  after  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  from 
which  time  the  American  army  remained  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  their  camps  until  the  i8th  of  October.  General  Put- 
nam's division  formed  the  southern  front,  overlooking  the 
valley,  then  known  as  the  "Hollow  Way,"  which  is  now 
spanned  by  the  iron  viaduct  north  of  Grant's  tomb.  General 
Spencer's  division  connected  with  General  Putnam's  left  and 
occupied  the  bluffs  overlooking  the  Harlem  River  and  extend- 
ing back  toward  headquarters.  General  Heath,  who  had  been 
encamped  above  King's  Bridge  since  the  17th  of  August,  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  country  east  of  the  Harlem  River  from  its 
mouth  near  Montresor's  Island  to  Frog's  Neck.  He  had  in  his 
division  the  brigades  of  Scott,  Parsons,  and  George  Clinton  and 
the  brigade  commanded  by  Colonel  Sargent.  For  some  days 
the  Westchester  roads,  between  the  Harlem  River  and  the 
Bronx,  had  been  obstructed  and  the  bridges  taken  up  to  hinder 
the  advance  of  the  enemy's  artillery. 


(r^k 


.^mw^ 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE   GREAT  FIRE   IN   NEW  YORK  CITY 

% 

FRIDAY,  the  20th  of  September,  1776,  was  not  yet 
quite  a  week  since  Washington  had  arrived  on  Harlem 
Heights  and  made  his  headquarters  at  the  Roger  Mor- 
ris house.  Everything  was  quiet  within  the  American 
lines,  but  the  feeling  was  one  of  apprehension.  There  were  eight 
hundred  pickets  in  the  fields  outside  the  short  south  front, 
guarding  against  any  approach  through  McGowan's  Pass  or 
from  the  Bloomingdale  Heights.  General  Washington,  accom- 
panied by  General  Putnam  and  a  cavalcade  of  staff  officers,  had 
ridden  out  during  the  day  across  King's  Bridge  on  a  tour  of 
inspection  of  General  Heath's  camps. 

Just  before  midnight  of  that  Friday  a  red  light  appeared  in 
the  sky  above  New  York  City,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  night  the 
officers  at  the  Morris  house  watched  the  furious  conflagration. 
Strange  to  say,  it  is  probable  that  a  vast  majority  of  the  on- 
lookers in  the  Continental  army  watched  the  fire  with  delight 
and  were  disappointed  on  Saturday  to  see  it  gradually  subdued. 
To  understand  this  feeling  we  shall  need  to  recur  to  the  attitude 
of  the  army,  before  the  evacuation,  toward  burning  the  city  as 
a  military  measure  to  keep  the  enemy  from  occupying  it.  The 
agitation  on  the  subject  seems  to  have  begun  shortly  after  the 
defeat  on  Long  Island,  and  the  strongest  advocates  of  the  meas- 
ure were  the  New  Englanders,  with  the  New  Yorkers  more 
backward  about  burning  the  chief  city  of  their  province. 

General  Nathanael  Greene  was  the  strongest  advocate  of  this 
drastic  measure.  On  September  5,  ten  days  before  the  evacua- 
tion, he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  General  Washington,  from  which 
I  present  a  few  extracts :  — 

The  sacrifice  of  the  vast  property  of  New  York  and  the  suburbs, 
I  hope  has  no  influence  upon  your  Excellency's  measures.  Remem- 
ber 


41 


Friday^  Septem- 
btr  20 


A  rid  light 
appeared  in  the 
sky 


42 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  Greene 
■would  burn 
the  city 


General  Wash- 
ington consults 
Congress 


ber  the  King  of  France,  when  Charles  the  Fifth,  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, invaded  his  kingdom  he  laid  whole  Provinces  waste;  and  by 
that  policy  he  starved  and  ruined  Charles's  army,  and  defeated 
him  without  fighting  a  battle.  Two  thirds  of  the  property  of  the 
city  of  New  York  and  the  suburbs  belongs  to  the  Tories,  We 
have  no  very  great  reason  to  run  any  considerable  risk  for  Its 
defence.  .  .  . 

...  I  would  burn  the  city  and  suburbs  and  that  for  the  follow- 
ing reasons:  If  the  Enemy  gets  possession  of  the  city,  we  never 
can  recover  the  possession  without  a  superior  naval  force  to  theirs; 
it  will  deprive  the  enemy  of  an  opportunity  of  barracking  their 
whole  army  together,  which,  if  they  could  do,  would  be  a  very 
great  security.  It  will  deprive  them  of  a  general  market;  the  price 
of  things  would  prove  a  temptation  to  our  people  to  supply  them 
for  the  sake  of  the  gain,  in  direct  violation  of  the  laws  of  their 
country. 

All  these  advantages  would  result  from  the  destruction  of  the 
city;  and  not  one  benefit  can  arise  to  us  from  its  preservation,  that 
I  can  conceive  of.  If  the  city  once  gets  into  the  enemy's  hands  it 
will  be  at  their  mercy  either  to  save  or  destroy  it,  after  they  have 
made  what  use  of  it  they  think  proper.  .  .  . 

I  shall  only  add  that  these  sentiments  are  not  dictated  from 
fear,  nor  from  any  apprehensions  of  personal  danger;  but  are  the 
result  of  a  cool  and  deliberate  survey  of  our  situation,  and  the 
necessary  measures  to  extricate  us  from  our  present  difficulties. 

I  am,  with  due  respect,  your  Excellency's  most  obedient  humble 
servant,  N.  Greene. 

To  his  Excellency  Gen.  Washington,  King's  Bridge. 

In  his  letter  to  Congress  on  September  2,  General  Washing- 
ton wrote :  — 

If  we  should  be  obliged  to  abandon  the  town,  ought  it  to  stand 
as  winter  quarters  for  the  enemy  .^  They  would  derive  great  con- 
veniences from  it  on  the  one  hand,  and  much  property  would  be 
destroyed  on  the  other.  It  is  an  important  question,  but  will 
admit  of  but  little  time  for  deliberation.  If  Congress,  therefore, 
should  resolve  upon  the  destruction  of  it,  the  resolution  should  be 
a  profound  secret,  as  the  knowledge  of  it  will  make  a  capital  change 
in  their  plans. 

To  this  suggestion  of  Washington,  Congress  replied  next 
day:  — 

Philadelphia,  September  3,  1776. 

Sir:  I  do  myself  the  honor  to  enclose  to  you  sundry  resolves,  by 
which  you  will  perceive  that  Congress  having  taken  your  letter  of 
the  2d  instant  into  consideration,  came  to  a  resolution  in  a  Com- 
mittee 


The  Great  Fire  in  New  Tork  City 


43 


mittee  of  the  whole  House,  that  no  damage  should  be  done  to  the 
City  of  New  York.  .  .  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  perfect  esteem  and  regard,  sir,  your 
most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant. 

John  Hancock,  President. 

To  which  General  Washington  repHed  on  the  day  after  he 
had  received  General  Greene's  earnest  appeal  to  burn  the 
city:  — 

New  York,  September  6,  1776. 

Sir:  I  was  last  night  honored  with  your  favor  of  the  3d,  with 
sundry  resolutions  of  Congress;  and  perceiving  it  to  be  their  opin- 
ion and  determination  that  no  damage  shall  be  done  the  city  in 
case  we  are  obliged  to  abandon  it,  I  shall  take  every  measure  in 
my  power  to  prevent  it.  .  .  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  the  highest  respect,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  servant.  Go.  Washington. 

The  British  feared  the  city  of  New  York  would  be  burned 
before  they  could  gain  possession  of  it.  Even  before  the  battle 
of  Long  Island,  their  camps  were  full  of  rumors  that  Washing- 
ton would  burn  the  city  before  leaving  it.  On  August  11,  a 
British  officer,  encamped  on  Staten  Island,  wrote  to  his  friend 
in  Edinburgh:  — 

We  have  a  fine  view  of  New  York  from  this  place,  which  we 
expect  soon  to  see  in  flames. 

On  the  2d  of  September,  an  English  officer  wrote  home  from 
Long  Island:  — 

I  have  just  heard  that  there  has  been  a  most  dreadful  fray  in 
New  York.  The  New  Englanders  insisted  on  setting  the  town  on 
fire  and  retreating;  this  was  opposed  by  the  New  Yorkers  who 
were  joined  by  the  Pennsylvanians,  and  a  battle  has  been  the 
consequence,  in  which  many  lost  their  lives. 

On  September  2,  another  officer  wrote  from  Long  Island :  — 

All  accounts  agree  that  they  are  preparing  to  evacuate  the 
Town.  Whether  they  will  burn  it  or  not  is  uncertain  as  the  Pro- 
vincials from  the  Jerseys  and  the  neighborhood  strenuously  oppose 
that  measure. 

On  the  same  day  an  English  officer  of  the  Guards  wrote  in 
substantially  the  same  words.  On  the  4th  of  September  another 
letter  to  a  gentleman  in  London  contains  the  following:  — 

In 


Congress  said  No 


British  feared 
the  city  would  be 
burned 


A  dreadful  fray 


44 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Report  of  three 
persons  who 
escaped  in  a  canoe 


News  by  desert- 
ers and  spies 


Young  officers 
returned  to  burn 
the  city 


In  the  night  of  the  2d  instant  three  persons  escaped  from  the 
city  in  a  canoe  and  informed  our  general  that  Mr.  Washington  had 
ordered  three  battalions  of  New  York  Provincials  to  leave  New 
York,  and  that  they  should  be  replaced  by  an  equal  number  of 
Connecticut  troops;  but  the  former,  assured  that  the  Connecticut- 
ians  would  burn  and  destroy  all  the  houses,  peremptorily  refused 
to  give  up  their  city, 

A  letter  from  an  officer  dated,  "Camp  near  New-Town  Long 
Island,  Sept.  Sth,"  says:  — 

Deserters  tell  us  they  are  in  great  confusion  at  New  York,  one 
party  wanting  to  burn  the  Town,  and  the  other  to  save  it;  but  in 
compassion  for  their  Sick,  which  it  is  impossible  they  can  remove, 
the  number  being  so  great,  I  think  they  will  hardly  set  Fire  to  the 
Town. 

These  extracts  from  English  letters  sufficiently  show  that  the 
seething  controversy  in  the  Continental  army,  for  and  against 
burning  the  city,  found  its  way  across  the  lines  at  the  hands  of 
deserters  and  spies.  The  very  exaggerations  and  distortions  of 
these  rumors  show  that  the  English  army  officers  expected  the 
city  to  be  set  on  fire  by  the  New  England  troops. 

The  last  sentence  in  General  Washington's  reply  to  Congress 
shows  that  he  was  not  uninformed  of  the  determination  in  cer- 
tain quarters  to  burn  the  city,  and  that  even  he  might  not  be 
able  to  prevent  it.  He  was  not  able  to  prevent  the  unfortunate 
attempt;  unfortunate  only  because  it  was  unsuccessful.  To 
those  who  had  wished  to  burn  the  city  before  leaving  it,  it  was 
a  bitter  thought  that  the  hated  enemy  was  now  in  comfortable 
possession,  while  they  themselves  were  without  shelter  at  the 
approach  of  winter  and  impotent  to  burn  the  city.  This  passion 
to  burn  the  enemy  out  of  the  city  raged  with  that  sort  of  patri- 
otic fervor  that  prompts  brave  men  to  sell  their  lives.  And  so  it 
was  that  certain  young  officers  of  the  Continental  army  either 
remained  in  the  city  after  the  evacuation  or  speedily  made  their 
way  back,  determined  to  burn  the  city  or  die  in  the  attempt. 

They  died  in  the  attempt ! 

The  "St.  James  Gazette,"  November  11,  1776,  says: — 

The  atrocious  act  was  conducted  by  one  William  Smith,  an 
officer  in  a  New  England  Regiment,  who  was  taken  with  a  match 
in  his  hand  and  sacrificed  on  the  spot  to  the  fury  of  the  soldiers. 

The 


The  Great  Fire  in  New  Tork  City 


45 


The  most  graphic  account  of  the  fire,  pubHshed  in  Gaine's 
"Mercury,"  by  an  eye-witness,  says:  — 

A  New  England  man,  having  a  captain's  commission  under  the 
Continental  Congress  and  in  their  service,  was  seized  with  these 
dreadful  instruments  of  ruin. 

The  "St.  James  Chronicle"  for  Friday,  November  8,  says:  — 

A  New  England  captain  was  seized  with  matches  in  his  pocket, 
who  acknowledged  the  same. 

Richard  Brown,  of  Thompson's  Pennsylvania  Rifle  Regi- 
ment, was  taken  in  the  act  of  promoting  the  fire  and  "put  to 
death  by  the  soldiers."  His  commission  as  second  lieutenant, 
signed  by  John  Hancock,  was  found  in  his  pocket  and  pub- 
lished in  full,  on  December  4,  in  the  "London  Packet."  Ac- 
cording to  Heitman's  "Historical  Register  of  the  Continental 
Army,"  Richard  Brown  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of 
Long  Island  and  was  probably  a  prisoner  in  the  city,  and  pos- 
sibly released  by  the  fire. 

Nathan  Hale  left  the  army  after  the  retreat  from  New  York, 
crossed  the  Sound  from  Stamford  to  Huntington,  and  went 
directly  into  the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  captured  in  or  near 
the  city,  late  in  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  day  of  the  great 
fire,  and  executed  the  next  morning. 

"The  most  graphic  account  gf  the  fire,"  referred  to  above, 
published  in  Gaine's  "Mercury,"  on  September  30,  follows  in 
full.  The  London  papers  attributed  the  story  to  "Major 
Rook,"  formerly  aide-de-camp  to  Genera!  Gage,  and  a  noted 
paragraph  writer  in  the  "Massachusetts  Gazette." 

On  Saturday  the  21st  Instant,  we  had  a  terrible  Fire  in  this 
City,  which  consumed  about  One  Thousand  Houses,  or  nearly  a 
fourth  of  the  whole  City.  The  following  is  the  best  Account  we 
can  collect  of  this  melancholy  Event.  The  Fire  broke  out  first  at 
the  most  southerly  Part  of  the  City,  near  White  Hall:  and  was 
discovered  between  12  and  i  o'Clock  in  the  Morning,  the  Wind 
blowing  very  fresh  from  the  South,  and  the  Weather  extremely  dry. 
The  Rebel  Army  having  carried  off  all  the  Bells  of  the  City,  the 
Alarm  could  not  be  speedily  communicated,  and  very  few  of  the 
Citizens  were  in  Town,  most  of  them  being  driven  out  by  the  Ca- 
lamities of  War  and  several  of  the  first  Rank  sent  Prisoners  to 
New  England,  and  other  distant  Parts.   A  few  Minutes  after  the 

Fire 


A  Niw  England 
captain  was 
ieixtd 


Capture  of 
Nathan  Hale 


Major  RooFs 
account 


46 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Fire  began  at 
White  Hall 


Burned  Trinity 
Church 


St.  Paul's 
Church  and 
King's  College 
saved 


fVright  White, 
a  carpenter 


Fire  was  discovered  at  White  Hall,  it  was  observed  to  break  out  in 
five  or  six  other  Places,  at  a  considerable  Distance. 

In  this  dreadful  Situation,  when  the  whole  City  was  threatened 
with  Destruction,  Major  General  Robertson,  who  had  the  Chief 
Command,  sent  immediately  for  two  Regiments  that  were  en- 
camped near  the  City,  placed  Guards  in  the  several  Streets  and 
took  every  other  Precaution  that  was  practicable  to  ward  off  the 
impending  Ruin.  Lord  Howe  ordered  the  Boats  of  the  Fleet  to  be 
manned,  and  after  landing  a  large  Number  of  Officers  and  Seamen 
to  assist  us,  the  Boats  were  stationed  on  each  side  of  the  City  in 
the  North  and  East  Rivers;  and  the  Lines  near  the  Royal  Army 
were  extended  across  the  Island,  as  it  manifestly  appeared  that  the 
City  was  designedly  set  on  Fire. 

The  Fire  raged  with  inconceivable  Violence;  and  in  its  destruc- 
tive progress  swept  away  all  the  Buildings  between  Broad  Street 
and  the  North  River,  almost  as  high  as  the  City  Hall,  and  from 
thence,  all  the  Houses  between  Broad  Way  and  the  North  River 
as  far  as  King's  College,  a  few  only  excepted.  Long  before  the 
main  Fire  reached  Trinity  Church,  that  large,  ancient  and  vener- 
able Edifice  was  in  Flames,  which  baffied  every  Effort  to  suppress 
them.  The  Steeple  which  was  140  Feet  high,  the  upper  Part  of 
Wood,  and  placed  on  an  elevated  Situation,  resembled  a  vast  Pyra- 
mid of  Fire,  and  exhibited  a  most  grand  and  aweful  Spectacle. 
Several  Women  and  Children  perished  in  the  Fire;  their  Shrieks, 
joined  to  the  roaring  of  the  Flames,  the  Crash  of  falling  Houses 
and  the  wide  spread  Ruin  which  every  where  appeared,  formed  a 
Scene  of  Horror  great  beyond  Description  and  which  was  still 
hightened  by  the  Darkness  of  the  Night.  Besides  Trinity  Church, 
the  Rector's  House,  the  Charity  School,  the  Old  Lutheran  Church, 
and  many  other  fine  Buildings  were  consumed.  St.  Paul's  Church 
and  King's  College  were  directly  in  Line  of  the  Fire,  but  saved 
with  very  great  Difficulty.  After  raging  about  10  Hours  the  Fire 
was  extinguished  between  10  and  11  o'Clock  a.m. 

During  this  complicated  Scene  of  Devastation  and  Distress,  at 
which  the  most  savage  Heart  might  relent,  several  Persons  were 
discovered  with  large  Bundles  of  Matches  dipped  in  melted  Rosin 
and  Brimstone  and  attempting  to  set  Fire  to  the  Houses.  A  New 
England  Man,  who  had  a  Captain's  Commission  under  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  and  in  their  Service,  was  seized  with  these 
dreadful  instruments  of  Ruin  —  on  being  searched  the  Sum  of  50o£ 
was  found  upon  him.  General  Robertson  rescued  two  of  those 
Incendiaries  from  the  enraged  Populace,  who  had  otherwise  con- 
signed them  to  the  Flames,  and  reserved  them  for  the  Hand  of 
deliberate  Justice.  One  Wright  White,  a  Carpenter,  was  observed 
to  cut  the  Leather  Buckets  which  conveyed  Water  —  he  also 
wounded  with  a  Cutlass  a  Woman  who  was  very  active  in  handing 
Water.  This  provoked  the  Spectators  to  such  a  Degree,  that  they 
instantly  hung  him  up.  One  of  these  Villains  set  fire  to  the  College, 

and 


The  Great  Fire  in  New  Tork  City 


4r7 


and  was  seized;  many  others  were  detected  in  the  like  Crime  and 
secured. 

The  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  Seamen  and  Soldiers, 
greatly  exerted  themselves,  often  with  the  utmost  Hazard  to  them- 
selves, and  showed  all  that  Alertness  and  Activity  for  which  they 
are  justly  celebrated  on  such  Occasions.  To  their  Vigorous  Efforts 
in  pulling  down  such  Wooden  Buildings  as  would  conduct  the 
Fire,  it  is  owing,  under  Providence,  that  the  whole  City  was  not 
consumed;  for  the  Number  of  Inhabitants  was  small,  the  Pumps 
and  Fire-Engines  were  very  much  out  of  Order.  The  last  circum- 
stance, together  with  the  removal  of  our  Bells,  the  Time  and 
Place  of  the  Fire's  breaking  out,  when  the  Wind  was  South,  the 
City  being  set  on  Fire  in  so  many  different  Places  nearly  at  the 
same  Time,  so  many  Incendiaries  being  caught  in  the  very  Fact 
of  setting  Fire  to  Houses;  These  to  mention  no  other  Particulars, 
clearly  evince  beyond  the  Possibility  of  a  Doubt,  that  this  diaboli- 
cal Affair  was  the  Result  of  a  preconcerted,  deliberate  Scheme. 
Thus  the  Persons  who  call  themselves  our  Friends  and  Protectors 
were  the  Perpetrators  of  this  atrocious  Deed;  which  in  Guilt  and 
Villainy  is  not  inferior  to  the  Gun-Powder  Plot;  while  those  who 
were  held  up  as  our  Enemies,  were  the  People  who  gallantly  stept 
forth,  at  the  Risque  of  their  Lives,  to  snatch  us  from  Destruction! 
Our  Distresses  were  very  great  indeed  before;  but  this  Disaster 
has  increased  them  tenfold.  Many  Hundreds  of  Families  have 
lost  their  all;  and  are  reduced  from  a  State  of  Affluence  to  the 
lowest  Ebb  of  Want  and  Wretchedness  —  destitute  of  Shelter, 
Food  or  Cloathing. 

Surely,  there  must  be  some  Curse  —  some  secret  Thunder  in 
the  Stores  of  Heaven;  red  with  uncommon  Wrath  to  blast  the  Mis- 
creants who  thus  wantonly  sport  with  the  Lives,  Property  and 
Happiness  of  their  Fellow  Creatures,  and  unfeelingly  doom  them 
to  inevitable  Ruin. 

For  some  reason  this  graphic  account  of  the  great  fire  in  New 
York  is  omitted  from  Force's  "American  Archives,"  where  al- 
most every  reference  to  that  event  has  found  a  place.  More- 
over, in  column  463,  vol.  2,  5th  series,  we  find  the  following 
garbled  account,  from  which  the  words,  "Many  of  the  villains 
were  apprehended  with  matches  in  their  hands  to  set  fire  to  the 
houses.  A  fellow  was  seized  just  about  to  set  fire  to  the  College,  who 
acknowledged  he  was  employed  for  the  purpose.  A  New  England 
Captain  was  seized  with  matches  in  his  pocket,  who  ac- 
knowledged THE  same,"  were  cut  out.  The  account  referred  to 
is  headed, "  Extract  of  a  letter  from  New  York  to  a  gentleman  in 
London,  dated  September  23  d,  1776,"  and  was  published  in  the 

"St. 


Seamen  and 
soldiers  exerted 
themselves 


Incendiaries 
caught  in  the  fact 


Some  omissions 
from  the  '■^  Amer- 
ican jirchives ' 


48 


Story  of  the  fire 
from  the  •■'■St. 
James  Chron- 
icle" 


Account  of  fudgi 
John  Joseph 
Henry 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


"St.  James  Chronicle"  on  the  8th  of  November  of  the  same 
year: — 

The  day  after  the  city  was  taken  I  repaired  to  it,  and  found  it 
a  most  dirty,  desolate,  and  wretched  place.  My  house  had  been 
plundered  by  the  Rebels  of  almost  every  thing  I  had  left  behind. 
However,  our  late  success,  and  the  pleasing  Prospect  before  us,  as 
the  city  was  not  destroyed,  made  me  forget  my  loss.  I  thought 
little  about  it. 

I  flattered  myself  that  the  city  would  soon  be  peopled  again,  and 
that  matters  would  speedily  be  restored  to  their  former  state;  but 
the  authors  of  our  calamities  were  determined  to  frustrate  this 
expectation.  The  destruction  of  the  city  was  resolved  on  by  some 
villains  who  were  concealed  in  the  city.  Accordingly  on  Thursday 
night  following,  when  every  thing  was  very  dry,  and  a  brisk  south- 
erly wind  blew,  some  of  them  set  fire  to  the  houses  near  White 
Hall.  The  fire  instantly  spread  and  raged  with  inconceivable  vio- 
lence. There  were  few  citizens  in  town;  the  fire  engines  and  pumps 
were  out  of  order.  Two  regiments  of  soldiers  were  immediately 
ordered  into  town,  and  many  boats  full  of  men  were  sent  from  the 
fleet.  To  these  under  Providence,  it  is  owing  that  the  whole  city 
was  not  reduced  to  ashes.  The  destruction  was  very  great.  Be- 
tween a  third  and  fourth  of  the  city  is  burnt.  All  there  is  west  of 
the  new  Exchange,  along  Broad  street  to  the  North  River,  as  high 
as  the  City  Hall,  and  from  thence  along  the  Broadway  and  North 
River  to  King's  College  is  in  ruins.  St.  Paul's  Church  and  the 
College  were  saved  with  the  utmost  difficulty.  Trinity  Church, 
the  Lutheran  Church,  the  parsonage,  and  charity-school  are  de- 
stroyed. Between  a  thousand  and  fifteen  hundred  houses  are 
burnt,  and  we  are  under  the  most  dismal  apprehensions  that  there 
are  some  more  of  these  villains  concealed  in  town  to  burn  what  is 
yet  left.  Our  distresses  were  great  before,  but  this  calamity  has 
increased  them  ten-fold.  Thousands  are  reduced  to  beggary. 
This  scheme  was  executed  to  prevent  the  King's  troops  from  hav- 
ing any  benefit  by  the  city. 

Another  account  of  the  fire  is  from  the  pen  of  Judge  John 
Joseph  Henry,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  as  a  young  man  was  a 
prisoner  on  the  Pearl  frigate  in  New  York  Harbor  at  the  time 
of  the  fire.  In  his  book,  "Campaign  against  Quebec,"  he  de- 
scribes the  fire  in  New  York :  — 

A  short  time  after  the  foregoing  occurrence  [referring  to  the 
escape  of  a  prisoner  from  the  ship],  a  most  beautiful  and  luminous, 
but  baleful  sight  occurred  to  us;  that  is  the  city  of  New  York  on 
fire.  One  night  [September  22]  the  watch  on  deck  gave  a  loud 
notice  of  this  disaster.    Running  upon  deck  we  could  perceive  a 

light. 


The  Great  Fire  in  New  Tork  City 


49 


light,  which,  at  the  distance  we  were  from  it  (four  miles),  was  ap- 
parently of  the  size  of  the  flame  of  a  candle.  This  light  to  me 
appeared  to  be,  the  burning  of  an  old  and  noted  tavern  called  the 
"Fighting  Cocks"  (where  ere  this  I  had  lodged)  to  the  east  of  the 
battery  and  near  the  wharf.  The  wind  was  southwardly  and  blew  a 
fresh  gale.  The  i^ames  at  this  place,  because  of  the  wind,  increased 
rapidly.  In  a  moment  we  saw  another  light  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  first,  up  the  North  River.  The  latter  light  seemed  to  be 
an  original,  distant  and  new  formed  fire,  near  a  celebrated  tavern 
in  the  Broadway  called  "White  Hall."  Our  anxiety  for  the  fate  of 
so  fine  a  city  caused  much  solicitude,  as  we  harbored  a  belief  that 
the  enemy  had  fired  it.  The  flames  were  fanned  by  the  briskness 
of  the  breeze  and  drove  the  destructive  effects  of  the  elements  on 
all  sides.  When  the  fire  reached  the  spire  of  a  large  steeple,  south 
of  the  tavern,  which  was  attached  to  a  large  church,  the  effect 
upon  the  eye  was  astonishingly  grand.  If  we  could  have  divested 
ourselves  of  the  knowledge  that  it  was  the  property  of  our  fellow 
citizens  which  was  consuming,  the  view  might  have  been  esteemed 
sublime  if  not  pleasing.  The  deck  of  our  ship  for  many  hours  was 
lighted  as  at  noon  day.  In  the  commencement  of  the  conflagration 
we  observed  many  boats  putting  off  from  the  fleet,  rowing  speedily 
towards  the  city;  our  boat  was  of  the  number.  This  circumstance 
repelled  the  idea  that  our  enemies  were  the  incendiaries,  for  indeed 
they  went  in  aid  of  the  inhabitants.  The  boat  returned  about  day- 
light, and  from  the  relation  of  the  officer  and  the  crew  we  clearly 
discerned  that  the  burning  of  New  York  was  the  act  of  some  mad- 
cap Americans.  The  sailors  told  us  in  their  blunt  manner,  that 
they  had  seen  one  American  hanging  by  the  heels  dead,  having  a 
bayonet  wound  through  his  breast.  They  named  him  by  his  chris- 
tian and  sirname,  which  they  saw  imprinted  on  his  arm;  they 
averred  he  was  caught  in  the  act  of  firing  the  houses.  They  told  us 
also  that  they  had  seen  one  person  who  was  taken  in  the  act  tossed 
into  the  fire,  and  that  several  who  were  stealing,  and  suspected  as 
incendiaries,  were  bayonetted. 

The  testimony  we  received  from  the  sailors,  my  own  view  of  the 
distinct  beginning  of  the  fire,  in  several  spots,  remote  from  each 
other,  and  the  manner  of  its  spreading,  impressed  my  mind  with 
the  belief  that  the  burning  of  the  city  was  the  doings  of  the  most 
low  and  vile  of  persons,  for  the  purpose  not  only  of  thieving  but  of 
devastation.  This  seemed  to  be  the  general  view,  not  only  of  the 
British,  but  that  of  the  prisoners  then  aboard  the  transports. 
Laying  directly  south  of  the  City,  and  in  a  range  with  Broadway, 
we  had  a  fair  and  full  view  of  the  whole  process.  The  persons  in  the 
ships  nearer  to  the  town  than  we  were  uniformly  held  the  same 
opinion.  It  was  not  until  some  years  afterwards  that  a  doubt  was 
created;  but  for  the  honor  of  our  country  and  its  good  name,  an 
ascription  was  made  of  the  firing  of  the  city  to  accidental  circum- 
stances. 


Thought  the  fire 
was  at  the 
"  Fighting 
Cocks"  where 
he  had  lodged 


Deck  of  the  ship 
lighted  as  at 
noon-day 


Thought  the 
burning  oj"  the 
City  was  by  low 
and  vile  persons 


50 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Sunday  was  a 
busy  day  at 
headquarters 


Arrival  of  a 
British  Flag  at 
the  picket  line 


General  IVash- 
ington  writes  to 
Governor 
Trumbull 


Stances.  It  may  be  well  that  a  nation  in  the  heat  and  turbulence 
of  war,  should  endeavor  to  promote  its  interests  by  propagating 
reports  of  its  own  innocence  and  prowess,  and  accusing  the  enemy 
of  flagrant  enormity  and  dastardliness  (as  was  done  in  this  particu- 
lar case)  but  when  peace  comes  let  us,  in  God's  name,  do  justice 
to  them  and  to  ourselves. 


General  Washington  and  the  officers  at  the  Morris  house 
went  to  bed  on  Saturday  night  without  any  information  as  to 
the  extent  of  the  fire  or  any  knowledge  of  its  origin  beyond  con- 
jecture. Sunday  was  a  busy  day  at  headquarters.  Preparations 
were  being  made  for  an  attack  that  night  on  Montresor's  Is- 
land, at  the  mouth  of  the  Harlem  River,  by  troops  of  General 
Heath's  division.  Ebenezer  Leffingwell  was  to  be  executed  at 
eleven  o'clock  the  next  morning,  and  arrangements  for  that 
event  claimed  the  attention  of  the  staff. 

Sometime  in  the  afternoon  news  came  from  the  pickets  at 
McGowan's  Pass  that  a  British  "Flag"  was  at  the  lines  with  a 
letter  for  General  Washington.  Colonel  Reed,  the  Adjutant- 
General,  rode  down  from  headquarters  to  meet  the  flag.  Ar- 
rived at  the  lines  he  found  Captain  John  Montresor,  the  engi- 
neer officer  on  General  Howe's  staff.  He  received  the  letter, 
and  the  usual  exchange  of  unofficial  information  took  place, 
including,  on  the  part  of  the  British  officer,  some  account  of  the 
fire  and  of  the  executions,  official  and  otherwise,  of  American 
officers  connected  with  it. 

On  the  following  day  General  Washington  concluded  a  let- 
ter to  Governor  Trumbull,  with  these  words :  — 

On  Friday  night,  about  eleven  or  twelve  o'clock,  a  fire  broke  out 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  which,  burning  rapidly  till  after  sunrise 
next  morning,  destroyed  a  great  number  of  houses.  By  what 
means  it  happened  we  do  not  know;  but  the  gentleman  who 
brought  the  letter  from  General  Howe  last  night,  and  who  was  one 
of  his  Aides-de-Camp,  informed  Colonel  Reed  that  several  of  our 
countrymen  had  been  punished  with  various  deaths  on  account  of 
it,  some  by  hanging,  others  by  burning,  &c. ;  alleging  that  they 
were  apprehended  when  committing  the  fact. 

I  have,  &c..  Go.  Washington. 

In  these  fejv  words  of  General  Washington's  letter  to  Gov- 
ernor Trumbull,  we  have  the  only  official  mention  of  the  in- 
formation brought  by  Captain  Montresor  about  the  fire  and 

about 


The  Great  Fire  in  New  Tork  City 


51 


about  the  young  Continental  officers,  the  flower  of  the  army, 
who  died  promoting  it.  General  Washington  expresses  neither 
approval  nor  disapproval;  he  states  the  hard  facts  as  they  had 
come  to  him  through  the  lines,  and  with  no  sign  of  doubt  as 
to  the  reliable  character  of  his  information. 

One  other  comment  on  the  subject  comes  from  one  so  close 
to  Washington  that  it  may  be  accepted,  in  the  main,  as  his 
opinion  also.  In  a  letter  to  his  father,  written  from  the  Morris 
house  on  September  25,  Lieutenant  Tench  Tilghman  says:  — 

Reports  concerning  the  setting  fire  to  New  York,  if  it  was  done 
designedly,  it  was  without  the  knowledge  or  Approbation  of  any- 
commanding  officer  in  the  army,  and  indeed  so  much  time  had 
elapsed  between  our  quitting  the  city  and  the  fire,  that  it  can 
never  be  fairly  attributed  to  the  army.  Indeed  every  man  belong- 
ing to  the  army,  who  remained  in  or  were  found  near  the  city  were 
made  prisoners.  Many  acts  of  barbarous  cruelty  were  committed 
upon  poor  creatures  who  were  perhaps  flying  from  the  flames,  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  looked  upon  all  who  were  not  in  the  military  line 
as  guilty,  and  burnt  and  cut  to  pieces  many.  But  this  I  am  sure 
was  not  by  order.    Some  were  executed  next  day  upon  good  grounds. 

Colonel  Silliman,  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  written  from  the 
field  Sunday,  September  22,  1776,^  says:  — 

A  most  extraordinary  manoeuvre  of  the  enemy  has  taken  place. 
The  night  before  last  about  midnight  a  tremendous  fire  was  seen 
from  our  lines,  to  the  southward,  which  continued  the  whole  night, 
and  it  is  said  was  burning  all  day  yesterday.  We  are  about  ten  miles 
from  New  York,  and  we  thought  it  must  be  the  city,  and  yesterday 
I  am  informed,  an  officer  came  over  from  the  Jersey  shore  opposite 
to  New  York,  and  said  that  the  city  was  almost  all  In  ashes,  and 
the  rest  of  it  was  burning  as  fast  as  it  could,  and  that  the  fire  was 
seen  first  about  midnight  on  the  east  side  of  the  town,  near  where 
I  used  to  live,  and  that  very  quick  the  fire  appeared  in  ten  or 
twelve  places  in  different  parts  of  the  town.  'T  is  supposed  it  must 
be  the  regulars  who  fired  it,  and  why  they  should  do  it  I  can't  con- 
ceive, unless  they  are  going  to  some  other  place,  which  I  see  no 
signs  of. 

On  the  25th,  Wednesday,  he  wrote  again:  — 

I  find  now  that  all  the  city  was  not  burnt,  but  only  that  part 
that  lay  next  to  the  Grand  Battery  and  so  up  the  Broadway,  and 
I  believe  it  was  not  the  regulars,  but  some  of  our  own  people  in  the 
city  that  set  it  on  fire,  for  they  executed  several  of  our 

FRIENDS  there  FOR  IT  THE  NEXT  DAY. 

In 

•  From  unpublished  letters  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Henrietta  Hubbard. 


General  TVash- 
ington  expresses 
no  opinion 


Lieutenant 
Tilghman 
writes  to 
his  father 


Colonel  Silliman 
to  his  wife 


They  executed 
several  of  our 
friends  for  it 
the  next  day 


5^ 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  Robert- 
son rescued  two 
of  these  incendi- 
aries 


A  curtain  of 
silence  fell  over 
the  disaster 


General  Howe^s 
concluding  para- 
graph 


In  the  account  of  the  fire  in  Game's  "Mercury,"  we  are 
told  that  "General  Robertson  rescued  two  of  these  incendi- 
aries from  the  enraged  Populace,  who  had  otherwise  consigned 
them  to  the  Flames  and  reserved  them  for  the  Hand  of  delib- 
erate Justice."  Both  Tilghman  and  Colonel  Silliman  refer  to 
more  than  one  execution  as  having  taken  place  on  that  Sun- 
day morning  after  the  fire.  We  have  heard  of  the  execution  of 
Nathan  Hale  only  on  that  date,  but  we  should  not  have  heard 
of  that  but  for  General  Hull's  statement  made  twenty-three 
years  afterwards. 

No  word  ever  passed  between  General  Washington  and 
General  Howe  about  the  fire  or  about  any  one  connected  with 
it.  It  was  the  useless  sacrifice  of  life  and  property  that  made 
the  failure  so  dreadful.  A  curtain  of  silence  fell  over  the  dis- 
aster, that  was  never  broken  during  Washington's  life,  and 
the  names  of  the  martyrs  were  forgotten. 

The  letter  from  General  Howe,  brought  to  the  lines  by  Cap- 
tain Montresor,  concerned  mainly  the  exchange  of  Major- 
General  Sullivan  for  Major-General  Prescott,  and  Brigadier- 
General  Lord  Stirling  for  Governor  Montfort  Brown.  It  was 
written  on  the  day  of  the  great  fire,  but  contained  no  refer- 
ence to  that  event.  General  Howe  believed  that  General 
Washington,  to  whom  he  was  writing,  had  sent  officers  of  his 
army  to  bum  the  city,  after  taking  the  precaution  to  send 
away  the  bells  of  the  churches,  to  give  the  fire  a  better  chance. 
And  General  Washington,  who  replied  to  General  Howe's 
letter  on  Monday  morning,  was  smarting  under  this  unjust 
belief  of  his  correspondent.  In  the  circumstances,  it  is  really 
refreshing  to  read  the  two  letters,  confined  strictly  to  business, 
dignified,  conciliatory,  almost  genial,  and  such  models  of  polite 
correspondence. 

General  Howe  concludes  his  letter  with  this  paragraph :  — 

My  Aide-de-Camp,  charged  with  the  delivery  of  this  letter  will 
present  to  you  a  ball  cut  and  fixed  to  the  ends  of  a  nail,  taken  from 
a  number  of  the  same  kind  found  in  the  encampments  quitted  by 
your  troops  on  the  1 5th  instant.  I  do  not  make  any  comment  upon 
such  unwarrantable  practices,  being  well  assured  the  contrivance 
has  not  come  to  your  knowledge. 

I  am,  with  due  regard,  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

W.  Howe. 

And 


The  New  7'ork  Fire  of  IJ76 


The  Great  Fire  in  New  Tork  City 


S3 


And  General  Washington,  his :  — 

Your  Aide-de-Camp  delivered  me  the  ball  you  mention,  which 
was  the  first  of  the  kind  I  ever  saw  or  heard  of.  You  may  depend 
the  contrivance  is  highly  abhorred  by  me,  and  every  measure  shall 
be  taken  to  prevent  so  wicked  and  infamous  a  practice  being 
adopted  in  this  army. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  due  regard,  sir,  your  most  obedient 
servant, 

Go.  Washington. 

On  Tuesday  Lieutenant  Tilghman  went  down  to  the  lines 
with  Washington's  reply.  He  says :  — 

I  met  a  very  civil  Gentleman  with  whom  I  had  an  hour's  con- 
versation while  my  Dispatches  were  going  up  to  Genl.  Howe. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Samuel  Curwen  to  Mr. 
George  Russell,  Exeter,  England,  December  30,  1776,  is  in- 
teresting in  connection  with  the  claim  in  the  "St.  James  Ga- 
zette" that  "The  atrocious  act  was  conducted  by  one  William 
Smith,  an  officer  in  a  New  England  Regiment,  who  was  taken 
with  a  match  in  his  hand,"  etc.  The  "Gazette"  referred  to  is 
evidently  the  "St.  James." 

The  accounts  of  the  burning  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  the 
Gazette,  are  full,  explicit  and  intelligible:  more  than  one  fourth 
is  destroyed,  beginning  at  the  fort,  and  all  along  the  Broadway, 
taking  the  College,  &c.;  and  that  it  was  fired  by  some  Northern 
man  is  undoubted.  A  Mr.  Smith,  son  of  a  clergyman  of  Wey- 
mouth in  Massachusetts  Bay,  whom  and  whose  family  I  knew 
very  well,  was  concerned,  taken,  and  I  believe  executed  on  due 
proof. 

Edmund  Burke,  in  the  course  of  a  debate  in  the  House  of 
Commons  on  November  6,  1776,  after  an  eloquent  defense 
of  the  cause  of  America,  indulged  in  a  fancied  description  of 
the  origin  of  the  fire  in  New  York;  a  description  more  drama- 
tic than  historic,  but  which  recognizes  and  acclaims  the  noble 
patriotism  of  the  attempt.  Mr.  Burke  had  heard  the  story 
that  the  fire  had  started  near  the  Whitehall  stairs  in  a  low 
resort,  and  his  fervid  imagination  pictured  a  degraded  woman 
defying  Britain  by  a  sublime  self-sacrifice.  ■ 

.  .  .  witness  the  behavior  of  one  miserable  woman,  who  with  her 
single  arm  did  that  which  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men 
could  not  do  —  arrested  your  progress  in  the  moment  of  your  suc- 
cess.  This  miserable  being  was  found  in  a  cellar,  with  her  visage 

besmeared 


Lieutenant 
Tilghman  goes 
down  to  the  lines 


Edmund  Burke 
in  the  House 
of  Commons 


54 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  famous 
Augibourg  prints 


besmeared  and  smutted  over,  with  every  mark  of  rage,  despair, 
resolution,  and  the  most  exalted  heroism,  buried  in  combustibles 
in  order  to  fire  New  York,  and  perish  in  its  ashes?  She  was 
brought  forth,  and  knowing  that  she  would  be  condemned  to  die, 
upon  being  asked  her  purpose,  said,  "To  fire  the  City!"  and  was 
determined  to  omit  no  opportunity  of  doing  what  her  country 
called  for.  Her  train  was  laid  and  fired;  and  it  is  worthy  of  your 
attention  how  Providence  was  pleased  to  make  use  of  those  hum- 
ble means  to  serve  the  American  cause,  when  open  force  was 
used  in  vain.  In  order  to  bring  things  to  this  unhappy  situation, 
did  not  you  pave  the  way,  by  a  succession  of  acts  of  tyranny.'' 

The  burning  of  New  York  was  an  event  of  capital  impor- 
tance in  Europe.  It  appeared  as  one  of  the  American  subjects 
in  the  famous  Augsbourg  prints,  "Collection  des  Prospects" 
in  various  countries,  to  be  shown  by  magic-lantern,  and  the 
reversed  caption,  as  it  would  appear  on  the  sheet,  read  "  Re- 
presentation du  Feu  Terrible  a  Nouvelle  Yorck."  Two  groups 
of  English  soldiers,  in  the  foreground,  are  executing  Ameri- 
cans, who  have  flaming  torches  in  their  hands.  The  scene  is, 
of  course,  imaginary,  and  in  case  of  the  companion  print,  "La 
Destruction  de  la  Statue  Royale  a  Nouvelle  Yorck,"  Indians 
in  turbans  and  loin-cloths  are  pulling  over  a  standing,  instead 
of  an  equestrian,  figure  of  King  George. 


mw 


55 


CHAPTER    V 

NATHAN    HALE 

1 

WHILE  Nathan  Hale's  movements  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  old  house  about  which  this  his- 
tory clusters,  they  have  much  to  do  with  the 
loose  history  of  that  amazing,  fable-making 
historical  period  that  followed  the  war  of  independence,  and 
with  the  great  fire,  and,  moreover,  fall  within  the  period  of 
Washington's  occupation  of  the  house. 

The  seven  volumes  of  the  "American  Archives,"  which 
contain  all  the  Revolutionary  papers  that  were  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  United  States  Government  at  the  time  of  its  pub- 
lication in  the  fifties,  are  unimpeachable  evidence  and  fre- 
quently reveal  the  inaccuracy  of  the  history  of  that  period  and 
the  absurdity  of  its  traditions.  In  these  papers  there  seem  to 
be  but  two  references  to  Nathan  Hale.  One  of  these  was  "An 
Extract  from  a  letter  from  Harlem,"  dated  September  28, 1776, 
just  a  week  after  the  great  fire. 

Friday  last  we  discovered  a  vast  cloud  of  smoke  arising  from 
the  north  part  of  the  city,  which  continued  'till  Saturday  evening 
—  The  consequence  was  that  the  Broadway  from  the  new  city 
hall  to  white  hall  is  laid  in  ashes.  Our  friends  were  immediately 
suspected  and  according  to  the  report  of  a  flag  of  truce  who  came 
to  our  lines  soon  after,  those  that  were  found  in  or  near  the  spot 
were  pitched  into  the  conflagration,  some  hanged  by  their  heels, 
others  by  their  necks  with  their  throats  cut.  Inhuman  barbarity! 
One  Hale  in  New  York,  on  suspicion  of  being  a  spy,  was  taken  up 
and  dragged  without  ceremony  to  the  execution  post  and  hung 
up. 

The  other  reference  was  in  a  letter  written  by  Tench  Tilgh- 
man,  General  Washington's  favorite  aide,  to  William  Duer, 
secretary  of  the  New  York  Convention,  at  a  time  when  the 
Convention  held  prisoners  suspected  of  being  spies.  The  letter 

suggested 


Nathan  Hale's 
movemtnti  had 
nothing  to  do 
with  the  old 
home 


Extract  from  a 
letter  from 
Harlem 


Tilghman  to 
Duer 


56 


Story  of  Hale 

first  given  to  the 
public  in  /7pp 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


A  new  name  to 
the  American 
people  in  i^pp 


From  Hannah 
Adams's  history 


suggested  retaliation,  with  the  following  statement:  "Gen- 
eral Howe  hanged  a  captain  of  ours,  belonging  to  Knowlton's 
Rangers  who  went  into  New  York  to  make  discoveries."  Be- 
sides these  two  statements  there  is  an  ominous  silence  on  the 
subject  of  Nathan  Hale. 

The  story  of  Nathan  Hale  was  first  given  to  the  public  in 
1799,  twenty-three  years  after  his  execution.  It  was  told  in 
a  work  entitled  "A  Summary  History  of  New  England  and 
General  Sketch  of  the  American  War,"  written  by  Hannah 
Adams  and  published  at  Dedham,  Massachusetts.  The  story 
was  almost  embellished  with  quotation  marks,  and  a  footnote 
informed  the  reader  that  "The  compiler  of  this  History  of  New 
England  is  indebted  to  General  Hull  of  Newton  for  this  in- 
teresting account  of  Captain  Hale." 

Abridgments  of  this  work,  for  the  use  of  the  Boston  schools, 
were  published  in  1806  (London)  and  in  1807  (Dedham),  in 
which  the  story,  somewhat  abbreviated,  was  repeated  with 
the  same  caution  of  quotation  marks  and  footnote. 

The  name  of  Nathan  Hale  was  a  new  name  to  the  American 
people  in  1799.  As  General  Hull  says,  "It  is  scarcely  known 
that  such  a  character  ever  existed."  The  peculiar  way  in  which 
the  story  was  first  published,  and  the  fact  that  for  twenty-five 
years  after  Hannah  Adams's  history  no  historian  of  the  Revo- 
lution ever  repeated  it,  or  even  noticed  it,  make  it  interesting 
to  try  and  trace  its  growth  and  development,  and  to  discover, 
if  possible,  the  reason  for  this  prolonged  silence,  and  some  ex- 
planation of  the  strange  uncertainty  about  the  place  of  his 
capture. 

Here  follows  the  story  as  told  in  Hannah  Adams's  history, 
omitting  the  quotation  marks:  — 

This  retreat  left  the  British  in  complete  possession  of  Long 
Island.  What  would  be  their  future  operations,  remained  uncer- 
tain. To  obtain  information  of  their  situation,  their  strength  and 
future  movements,  was  of  high  importance.  For  this  purpose 
General  Washington  applied  to  Col.  Knowlton,  who  commanded 
a  regiment  of  light  infantry,  which  formed  the  van  of  the  Amer- 
ican army  and  desired  him  to  adopt  some  mode  of  gaining  the 
necessary  information.  Col.  Knowlton  communicated  his  request 
to  Capt.  Nathan  Hale,  of  Connecticut,  who  belonged  to  his  reg- 
iment. 

This 


Hannah  Adams 


Nathan  Hale 


57 


This  young  officer,  animated  by  a  sense  of  duty,  and  consid- 
ering that  an  opportunity  presented  itself  by  which  he  might  be 
useful  to  his  country,  at  once  offered  himself  a  volunteer  for  this 
hazardous  service.  He  passed  in  disguise  to  Long  Island,  exam- 
ined every  part  of  the  British  army,  and  obtained  every  possible 
information  respecting  their  situation  and  future  operations. 

In  his  attempt  to  return  he  was  apprehended,  and  carried  be- 
fore Sir  William  Howe,  and  the  proof  of  his  object  was  so  clear 
that  he  frankly  acknowledged  who  he  was  and  what  were  his 
views. 

Sir  William  Howe  at  once  gave  an  order  to  the  provost  marshal 
to  execute  him  the  next  morning.  This  order  was  accordingly 
executed,  in  a  most  unfeeling  manner,  and  by  as  great  a  savage 
as  ever  disgraced  humanity.  A  clergyman,  whose  attendance  he 
desired,  was  refused  him.  A  Bible  for  a  few  moments'  devotion 
was  not  procured,  although  he  requested  it.  Letters  which,  on 
the  morning  of  his  execution,  he  wrote  to  his  mother  and  other 
friends  were  destroyed,  and  this  very  extraordinary  reason  given, 
"That  the  rebels  should  not  know  they  had  a  man  in  their  army 
who  could  die  with  so  much -firmness." 

Unknown  to  all  around  him,  without  a  single  friend  to  offer  him 
the  least  consolation,  there  fell  as  amiable,  and  as  worthy  a  young 
man,  as  America  could  boast,  with  this  dying  observation,  "that 
he  only  lamented  that  he  had  but  one  life  to  lose  for  his  country." 

Although  the  manner  of  this  execution  will  ever  be  abhorred 
by  every  friend  to  humanity  and  religion,  yet  there  cannot  be  a 
question  but  that  the  sentence  was  conformable  to  the  rules  of 
war  and  the  practice  of  nations  in  similar  cases. 

It  is,  however,  a  justice  due  to  the  character  of  Captain  Hale 
to  observe,  that  his  motives  for  engaging  in  this  service  were 
entirely  diflferent  from  those  which  generally  influence  others  in 
similar  circumstances. 

Neither  the  expectation  of  promotion  nor  of  pecuniary  reward, 
induced  him  to  the  attempt.  A  sense  of  duty,  a  hope  that,  in 
this  way,  he  might  be  useful  to  his  country,  and  an  opinion  which 
he  had  adopted,  that  every  kind  of  service  necessary  to  the  public 
good  became  honorable  by  being  necessary,  were  the  great  motives 
which  induced  him  to  engage  in  an  enterprise  by  which  his  con- 
nections lost  a  most  amiable  friend,  and  his  country  one  of  its 
most  promising  supporters. 

The  fate  of  this  unfortunate  young  man  excites  the  most  in- 
teresting reflections.  To  see  such  a  character,  in  the  flower  of 
youth,  cheerfully  treading  in  the  most  hazardous  paths,  influ- 
enced by  the  purest  intentions,  and  only  emulous  to  do  good  to 
his  country,  without  the  implication  of  a  crime,  fall  a  victim  to 
policy,  must  have  been  wounding  to  the  feelings  of  his  enemies. 

Should  comparison  be  drawn  between  Major  Andre  and  Cap- 


tain Hale,  injustice  would 


be  done  the  latter,  should  he  not  be 

placed 


Apprehended  and 
carried  before 
Sir  IFilliam 
Howt 


His  last  words 


Major  Andre 
and  Captain 
Hale 


58 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Paragraphs 
worded  to 
misUad 


Pious  and  pa- 
triotic invention 


Second  appear- 
ance of  story  of 
Nathan  Hale 


placed  on  an  equal  ground  with  the  former.  Whilst  almost  every 
historian  of  the  American  Revolution  has  celebrated  the  virtues 
and  lamented  the  fate  of  Andre,  Hale  has  remained  unnoticed 
and  it  is  scarcely  known  such  a  character  ever  existed. 

To  the  memory  of  Andre,  his  countrymen  have  erected  the 
most  magnificent  monuments,  and  bestowed  on  his  family  the 
highest  honors  and  most  liberal  rewards.  To  the  memory  of  Hale 
not  a  stone  has  been  erected  nor  an  inscription  to  preserve  his 
ashes  from  insult. 

The  first  paragraphs  of  this  belated  statement  of  General 
Hull  are  cunningly  worded  to  mislead  the  student  of  history. 
General  Hull  aims  to  establish:  (i)  that  Nathan  Hale  was  sent 
by  Washington ;  (2)  that  he  found  the  British  army  on  Long 
Island;  (3)  that  he  was  captured  on  Long  Island  and  carried 
into  New  York.  Of  the  first  claim  there  is  no  evidence  and  the 
others  are  known  to  be  untrue,  and  were  known  by  General 
Hull  to  be  untrue. 

It  is  well  known  that  many  fables  have  been  added  to  the 
original  story,  which  have  been  accepted  by  certain  authors 
and  have  passed  into  history.  This  sort  of  pious  and  patriotic 
invention  culminated  in  1856  in  the  popular  life  of  Nathan 
Hale  by  Isaac  W.  Stewart,  of  which  the  American  Library 
Association's  Historical  Guide  says,  "...  a  wholly  uncritical 
treatment  of  the  many  tales  that  have  gathered  about  the 
name  of  Nathan  Hale.  It  has  been  entirely  superseded." 

In  1805,  following  Hannah  Adams,  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren 
published,  at  Boston,  "  Rise,  Progress  and  Termination  of  the 
American  Revolution."  In  1820  a  translation  of  Charles  Bot- 
ta's  "American  Revolution"  (Italian)  was  published  in  Phila- 
delphia. In  1822  Paul  Allen's  "History  of  the  Revolution" 
was  published  in  Baltimore,  and  in  1823  a  history  of  the  Revo- 
lution by  James  Thatcher.  None  of  these  historians  mentions 
Nathan  Hale. 

In  the  following  year,  however,  after  a  lapse  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  silence,  following  the  publication  of  General 
Hull's  story  in  Hannah  Adams's  history,  the  story  made  its 
second  appearance  in  "Annals  of  the  American  Revolution," 
by  Jedediah  Morse  (Hartford,  1824).  The  author  credits 
the  story  to  Hannah  Adams,  and,  like  that  conscientious  lady, 
he  washes  his  hands  of  any  responsibility  for  the  story.   He 

says. 


Nathan  Hale 


59 


says,  "The  particulars  of  this  tragical  event,  sanctioned  by 
General  Hull,  who  was  knowing  to  them  at  the  time,  are  re- 
lated by  Miss  Adams  in  her  history  of  New  England." 

Two  years  later,  Stephen  Hempstead,  then  an  old  man, 
who  had  been  the  camp  servant  of  Hale  and  his  companion  on 
his  ill-fated  mission  as  far  as  Norwalk,  published  a  letter  or 
statement  in  the  "St.  Louis  Republican,"  issue  of  January 
27,  1827.  All  that  is  of  interest  in  this  letter  follows:  — 

Capt.  Hale  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  officers  of  his 
grade  and  age  in  the  army.  He  was  a  native  of  the  town  of  Co- 
ventry, state  of  Connecticut,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
young,  brave,  honorable  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  Captain 
in  Col.  Webb's  Regiment  of  Continental  Troops.  Having  never 
seen  a  circumstantial  account  of  his  untimely  and  melancholy 
end,  I  will  give  it.  I  was  attached  to  his  company  and  in  his  con- 
fidence. After  the  retreat  of  our  army  from  Long  Island,  he  in- 
formed me  he  was  sent  for  to  Head  Quarters,  and  was  solicited 
to  go  over  to  Long  Island  to  discover  the  disposition  of  the 
enemy's  camp,  &c.,  expecting  them  to  attack  New  York,  but, 
that  he  was  too  unwell  to  go,  not  having  recovered  from  a  recent 
ilness:  that  upon  a  second  application,  he  had  consented  to  go, 
and  I  must  go  as  far  with  him  as  I  could,  with  safety,  and  wait 
for  his  return.  Accordingly,  we  left  our  camp  on  Harlem  Heights, 
with  the  intention  of  crossing  over  the  first  opportunity;  but 
none  offered  until  we  arrived  at  Norwalk,  fifty  miles  from  New 
York.  In  harbor  there  was  an  armed  sloop,  and  one  or  two  row 
galleys.  Capt.  Hale  had  a  general  order,  to  all  armed  vessels,  to 
take  him  to  any  place  he  should  designate:  he  was  set  across  the 
Sound,  in  the  sloop,  at  Huntington  (Long  Island)  by  Capt.  Pond, 
who  commanded  the  vessel.  Capt.  Hale  had  changed  his  uniform 
for  a  plain  suit  of  citizen's  brown  clothes,  with  a  round  broad 
brimmed  hat;  assuming  the  character  of  a  Dutch  school-master, 
leaving  all  his  other  clothes,  commission,  public  and  private 
papers,  with  me,  and  also  his  silver  shoe-buckles,  saying  they 
would  not  comport  with  his  character  of  schoolmaster,  and  re- 
taining nothing  but  his  college  diploma,  as  an  introduction  to 
his  assumed  calling.  Thus  equipped  we  parted  for  the  last  time 
in  life.  He  went  on  his  mission,  and  I  returned  back  again  to 
Norwalk,  with  orders  to  stop  there  until  he  should  return,  or  hear 
from  him,  as  he  expected  to  return  back  again  to  cross  the  sound, 
if  he  succeeded  in  his  object.  The  British  army  had,  in  the  mean 
time,  got  possession  of  New  York,  whither  he  also  passed,  and 
had  nearly  executed  his  mission,  and  was  passing  the  British 
picquet  guard  between  the  two  armies,  within  a  mile  and  a  half 
of  his  own  quarters,  when  he  was  stopped  at  a  tavern,  at  a  place 
called  the  "  Cedars."  Here  there  was  no  suspicion  of  his  character 

being 


Stephen  Hemp- 
stead's story  of 
Nathan  Hale's 
movements 


Leave  camp  on 
Harlem  Heights 


The  British 
Army  had,  in 
the  mean  time, 

got  possession  of 
New  Tork 


6o 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Betrayed  by  an 
own  relation 


Beginning  of  a 
period  of  romance 
and  imagination 


Story  of  the  cap- 
ture of  the  sloop 


being  other  than  what  he  pretended,  until,  most  unfortunately, 
he  was  met  in  the  crowd  by  a  fellow  countryman,  and  an  own  rela- 
tion, (but  a  tory  and  renegade,)  who  had  received  the  hospitality 
of  his  board  from  Captain  Hale,  at  his  quarters  at  Winter  Hill, 
in  Cambridge,  the  winter  before.  He  recognized  him,  and  most 
inhumanely  and  infamously  betrayed  him,  divulging  his  true 
character,  situation  in  the  army,  &c. ;  and  having  him  searched, 
his  diploma  corroborated  his  relative's  when,  without  any  form 
of  trial,  or  delay,  they  hung  him  instantaniously,  and  sent  a  flag 
over  to  our  army,  stating  "that  they  had  caught  such  a  man 
within  their  lines,  that  morning  and  had  hung  him  as  a  spy." 
Thus  suddenly  and  unfeelingly  did  they  rush  this  young  and 
worthy  man  into  Eternity,  not  allowing  him  an  hour's  prepara- 
tion, nor  the  privilege  of  writing  to  his  friends,  nor  even  to  re- 
ceive the  last  consolations  of  his  religion,  refusing  to  let  the  chap- 
lain pray  with  him,  as  was  his  request.  After  parting  with  Capt. 
Hale,  of  all  these  circumstance  I  was  authentically  informed 
at  the  time. 

Stephen  Hempstead  Sr. 

And  r\Gv/  begins  the  period  of  romance  and  imagination.  In 
a  published  lecture  delivered  by  Samuel  Knapp  in  1829,  the 
author,  in  describing  the  scene  at  the  execution,  says,  "The 
veteran  soldiers  wept  Hke  children  at  his  untimely  fate,  won- 
dering that  a  rebel  could  die  so  much  like  a  hero." 

In  1836,  Judge  Andrew  T.  Judson  delivered  an  address 
(which  seems  to  be  out  of  print)  before  the  Hale  Monument 
Association  of  Coventry,  Connecticut.  Reference  is  made  to  it 
in  Thompson's  "History  of  Long  Island,"  which  was  pubHshed 
in  1843.  In  the  appendix  to  this  work  is  a  brief  story  of  Hale's 
capture,  and  here  I  find  for  the  first  time  two  stories  that  were 
long  current  as  history.  One  is  the  story  of  the  drawings  found 
between  the  soles  of  Hale's  shoes,  with  the  descriptions  writ- 
ten in  Latin,  and  the  story  of  the  capture  of  the  sloop.  Thomp- 
son's account  is  taken  from  Hull's  story  in  Hannah  Adams's 
history  and  from  Judson's  address,  and  as  Hull  makes  no 
mention  of  either  of  the  above  incidents,  they  probably  origin- 
ated in  the  Coventry  address.  The  capture  of  the  sloop,  for 
which  no  date  or  authority  has  been  given,  is  claimed  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  East  River  under  the  guns  of  the  Asia, 
British  man-of-war;  that  Hale  and  his  friends  boarded  the 
sloop  in  the  night,  and  brought  it  to  shore  with  the  British 

crew 


Nathan  Hale 


6i 


crew  in  the  hold  as  prisoners,  and  that  the  vessel  was  loaded 
with  clothing,  which  Hale  gave  to  the  destitute  and  half-clad 
soldiers.  These  stories  have  no  official  authority  and  evidently 
are  of  the  sort  characterized  by  the  American  Library  Asso- 
ciation's "Historical  Guide"  as  "Tales  that  have  gathered 
about  the  name  of  Nathan  Hale." 

It  is  evident  that  the  subject  of  Nathan  Hale  was  intro- 
duced in  the  appendix  to  Thompson's  "History  of  Long 
Island"  solely  because  of  the  claim,  probably  made  by  Jud- 
son,  that  the  scene  of  the  capture  was  at  Huntington,  Long 
Island.  Thompson  states  that  the  arrest  was  at  a  place  called 
"The  Cedars,"  near  Huntington,  Long  Island,  and  by  a  boat's 
crew  from  the  British  ship  Cerberus,  at  about  daylight,  shortly 
after  Hale  had  left  the  tavern  of  one  Mother  Chichester. 

In  the  following  year  (1844),  "A  Memoir  of  Captain  Nathan 
Hale,"  by  S.  Babcock,  was  published  by  the  Hale  Monument 
Association  of  New  Haven.  Babcock  says  Hale  was  captured 
at  a  tavern  called  "The  Cedars,"  which  he  states  was  not  more 
than  two  or  three  miles  from  his  own  quarters. 

In  1848,  a  life  of  General  Hull  was  published  by  his  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Mariah  Campbell.  In  the  chapter  devoted  to  Nathan 
Hale  she  quotes  from  a  manuscript  left  by  her  father.  After 
mentioning  Hale's  disappearance  from  camp,  he  continues :  — 

In  a  few  days  an  officer  came  to  our  camp,  under  a  flag  of  truce, 
and  informed  Hamilton,  then  a  captain  of  artillery,  but  after- 
wards an  aide  of  General  Washington,  that  Captain  Hale  had 
been  arrested  within  the  British  lines,  condemned  as  a  spy,  and 
executed  that  morning. 

I  learned  the  melancholy  particulars  from  this  officer  who  was 
present  at  his  execution,  and  seemed  touched  by  the  circum- 
stances attending  it. 

"On  the  morning  of  his  execution,"  continued  the  officer,  "my 
station  was  near  the  fatal  spot,  and  I  requested  the  Provost 
Marshal  to  permit  the  prisoner  to  sit  in  my  marquee  while  he  was 
making  the  necessary  preparations.  Captain  Hale  entered.  He 
was  calm  and  bore  himself  with  gentle  dignity,  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  rectitude  and  high  intentions.  He  asked  for  writing  mate- 
rials, which  I  furnished  him.  He  wrote  two  letters,  one  to  his 
mother  and  one  to  a  brother  officer." 

In  the  statements  of  General  Hull  and  Stephen  Hempstead, 
who  were  the  intimates  and  confidants  of  Nathan  Hale,  we 

have 


Stories  having 
no  official 
authority 


A  tavern  called 
'■•■The  Cedars" 


From  manuscript 
left  by  General 
Hull 


62 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Determined  to 
keep  Hale  at  a 
safe  distance 
from  the  f re 


Capture  probably 
at  the  inner  line 


Correction  repu- 
diated 


have  the  only  information,  of  value  or  otherwise,  of  the  move- 
ments of  Hale.  Both  Hull  and  Hempstead  seem  to  have  been 
determined  to  keep  Hale  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  fire. 
Stephen  Hempstead's  story  is  frank  and  convincing  as  far  as 
he  goes.  He  tells  us  for  the  first  time  where  Hale  was  cap- 
tured, but  not  a  word  about  his  "object"  in  going  into  the 
city  of  New  York,  nor  does  he  off^er  any  explanation  of,  or  even 
acknowledge,  the  startling  fact  that  he  had  escaped  from  the 
city  of  New  York  during  the  great  conflagration  and  made 
his  way  to  the  place  where  he  was  captured.  He  says,  "He 
had  nearly  executed  his  mission,  and  was  passing  the  British 
picquet  guard,"  etc. 

The  account  of  the  fire  in  Gaine's  "Mercury"  tells  us  that 
"the  lines  near  the  royal  army  were  extended  across  the  island, 
as  it  manifestly  appeared  that  the  city  was  designedly  set  on 
fire."  This  extra  guard  line,  "near  the  royal  army,"  was  es- 
tablished to  keep  out  of  the  city  such  troops  as  were  not 
needed  to  put  out  the  fire,  and  to  prevent  the  escape  of  incen- 
diaries. If,  therefore,  Hale  was  captured  at  the  picket  line,  it 
was  probably  at  this  inner  line  and  very  near  the  city,  and  not 
at  the  outpost  as  Hempstead  thought. 

General  Hull  s^ys,  "he  was  apprehended  and  carried  before 
Sir  William  Howe,  and  the  proof  of  his  object  was  so  clear 
that  he  frankly  acknowledged  who  he  was  and  what  were  his 
views."  His  views  on  what  ?  As  he  had  just  left  the  burning 
city,  his  views  on  the  fire  would  be  the  only  views  of  any  in- 
terest to  his  captors.  What  made  "the  proof  of  his  object  so 
clear"  but  the  fact  that  he  had  been  captured  so  near  the  con- 
flagration .? 

When  the  first  edition  of  Hannah  Adams's  abridgment  of 
her  history,  for  the  Boston  schools,  was  published  in  London, 
in  1806,  some  one  saw  the  inconsistency,  as  it  related  to  Hale's 
departure,  of  the  first  sentence  in  Hull's  story,  "This  retreat 
left  the  British  in  complete  possession  of  Long  Island,"  and 
changed  the  statement  so  as  to  read,  "As  this  retreat  left  the 
British  in  complete  possession  of  New  York."  This  correc- 
tion of  the  original  wording  was  repudiated  in  the  edition  pub- 
lished the  next  year  at  Dedham,  Massachusetts. 

General  Hull's  story  dealt  too  much  in  generalities  and  left 

one 


Nathan  Hale 


one  with  the  feeling  that  important  facts  were  concealed.  In 
his  notes,  published  by  his  daughter,  we  find  interesting  de- 
tails that  show  the  sweetness  of  Nathan  Hale's  character,  and 
the  dignity  with  which  he  met  his  fate,  but  still  we  do  not  hear 
enough. 

If  we  question  his  story,  we  are  entitled  to  consider  the 
character  of  the  man  who  tells  it.  General  William  Hull  was 
a  college  man  who  wrote  fluently,  a  lawyer  who  produced  an 
octavo  book  in  his  own  defense  before  the  court  martial  that 
condemned  him  to  death  for  surrendering  Detroit.  His  sen- 
tence was  reversed  by  President  Madison,  and  while  he  was 
probably  not  guilty  of  treason  as  charged,  he  was  unquestion- 
ably guilty  of  cowardice  and  neglect  of  duty,  as  his  officers 
testified  at  his  trial.  He  was  a  master  of  sophistry  in  his  own 
defense,  and  quite  equal  to  dissembling  in  that  of  his  friend. 

Hannah  Adams,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  devout  woman 
of  the  old  New  England  school,  and  a  particularly  conscien- 
tious writer  who  had  devoted  most  of  her  literary  life  to  reli- 
gious subjects.  All  her  history  of  New  England  she  had  writ- 
ten with  her  own  hand,  except  the  story  of  Captain  Hale,  for 
which  she  evidently  declined  to  be  responsible,  referring  her 
readers,  for  its  truth  or  falsehood,  to  General  Hull,  of  Newton. 

Why  was  the  story  ignored  by  Mercy  Warren,  by  Charles 
Botta,  by  Paul  Allen,  and  by  James  Thatcher,  who  wrote  his- 
tories of  the  Revolution  during  a  quarter  of  a  century  follow- 
ing the  publication  of  the  original  story  in  the  history  by 
Hannah  Adams?  History  books  were  few  in  those  days,  and 
these  writers  must  have  been  familiar  with  the  story  as  told 
by  General  Hull.  Old  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  were  as  numer- 
ous then,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  as  are  the  soldiers 
of  the  Civil  War  to-day.  Evidently  these  writers  discovered 
facts  that,  in  their  judgment,  made  the  further  publication 
of  the  story  inadvisable. 

There  has  long  been  a  persistent  purpose  among  the  writers 
on  Nathan  Hale  to  suppress  any  documents  that  might  in 
any  way  connect  him  with  the  great  fire.  The  fact  that  young 
ofiicers  of  the  Continental  army  were  engaged  in  the  attempt 
to  bum  the  city  of  New  York,  a  week  after  General  Washing- 
ton left  it,  has  been  almost  completely  ignored  in  American 

history 


63 


Character  of 
General  Hull 


Character  of 
Hannah  Adatrn 


A  persistent  pur- 
pose to  suppress 
documents 


64 


A  garbled  ac- 
count of  the  fire 


Other  Conti- 
nental officers 
executed  on  the 
spot 


The  least  that 
Stephen  Hemp- 
stead could  do 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


history.  Only  one  account  of  the  fire  appears  in  the  "Ameri- 
can Archives."  It  is  a  garbled  account,  taken  from  the  New 
York  letter  in  the  "St.  James  Chronicle,"  which  is  given  in 
full  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  clause  omitted  reads :  — 

Many  of  the  villains  were  apprehended  with  matches  in  their 
hands  to  set  fire  to  the  houses.  A  fellow  was  seized  just  about  to 
set  fire  to  the  college,  who  acknowledged  he  was  employed  for  the 
purpose.  A  New  England  Captain  was  seized  with  matches  in 
his  pocket,  who  acknowledged  the  same. 

The  longer  account  of  the  fire  from  Gaine's  "Mercury,"  also 
given  in  the  preceding  chapter,  containing  the  passage,  "A 
New  England  man,  who  had  a  captain's  commission  under 
the  Continental  Congress,  and  in  their  service  was  seized 
having  these  dreadful  implements  of  ruin,"  etc.,  was  omitted 
from  the  "American  Archives"  altogether.  These  two  very 
significant  passages,  then,  were  intentionally  suppressed,  by 
some  one,  in  this  important  publication  of  the  Revolutionary 
papers,  which  will  stand  in  the  future  as  the  official  record. 
Neither  of  these  letters  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Society.^ 

The  other  Continental  officers  mentioned  in  the  description 
of  the  fire  were  executed  on  the  spot.  There  is  no  such  state- 
ment concerning  this  "New  England  man,  who  had  a  cap- 
tain's commission  under  the  Continental  Congress  and  in 
their  service,"  etc.  But  the  very  next  paragraph  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  fire  reads,  "General  Robertson  rescued  two 
of  these  incendiaries  from  the  enraged  populace,  who  had  other- 
wise consigned  them  to  the  flames,  and  reserved  them  for  the 
hand  of  deliberate  justice."  That  the  New  England  man  de- 
scribed in  the  preceding  sentence  was  one  of  the  incendiaries 
so  reserved  by  General  Robertson  is  a  logical  deduction  from 
the  reading.  This  officer  was  probably  captured  late  in  the 
day,  after  the  fire  was  well  under  control,  and  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  town  near  the  college.  The  least  that  Stephen  Hemp- 
stead could  do  for  the  companion  he  revered  and  loved  was 
to  claim  that  he  was  captured  outside  the  burning  city. 

Why  have  we  not  heard  more  of  this  hero  who  was  the 

embodiment 

*  At  this  particular  time  the  librarian  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  was 
contemplating  a  life  of  Nathan  Hale. 


The  Capture  of  Nathan  Hale 


H'.- 


Nathan  Hale 


65 


embodiment  of  the  hopes  of  the  army  on  the  Heights  of  Harlem  ? 
If  he  was  not  Nathan  Hale,  he  was  engaged  in  a  more  heroic 
work  than  the  biographers  of  Nathan  Hale  have  assigned  to 
him.  But  I  prefer  to  believe  that  this  was  Nathan  Hale,  for 
it  does  away  with  the  silly  claims  of  a  perfectly  useless  mis- 
sion into  the  enemy's  lines;  it  accounts  for  a  half-century  of 
silence  and  another  half-century  of  pious  fables;  it  reconciles 
the  ambiguity  of  General  Hull's  story,  and  the  caution  of 
Hannah  Adams,  and  the  lifelong  silence  of  Washington,  Reed, 
and  Hamilton. 

Nathan  Hale  went  into  New  York  for  a  definite  purpose,  and 
that  purpose  was  not  to  make  drawings  of  forts  that  Wash- 
ington had  built,  and  in  which  he  had  no  further  interest,  or 
for  any  other  trivial  reason  assigned  by  his  biographers.  He 
was  a  daring  enthusiast,  to  whom  devotion  to  his  country's 
cause  was  his  religion.  The  idea  of  sacrificing  the  city  of  New 
York  for  the  good  of  the  cause,  which  had  the  almost  univer- 
sal approval  of  the  New  England  troops,  would  appeal  strongly 
to  a  nature  like  Nathan  Hale's.  Had  he  succeeded  he  would 
have  been  the  heroic  figure  of  the  war,  and  if  he  had  died  an 
ignominious  death  as  the  price  of  his  success,  instead  of  as  the 
penalty  of  his  failure,  his  name  would  have  been  on  every 
tongue.  To  succeed  only  in  part,  however,  was  to  fail  utterly. 
It  was  a  waste  of  life  and  property  to  no  purpose.  The  failure 
was  so  appalling  in  its  impotence  that  it  accounts  for  the  si- 
lence even  of  his  friends. 

The  most  important  monograph  on  Nathan  Hale,  and  the 
fairest  in  its  deductions,  while  admitting  that  he  was  captured 
just  outside  the  city  of  New  York,  merely  mentions  the  cir- 
cumstance that  there  had  been  a  fire  in  the  city  that  day. 
After  expressly  stating  that  nothing  is  known  of  the  move- 
ments of  Nathan  Hale  between  the  time  he  entered  the  city 
and  the  hour  of  his  capture,  no  importance  whatever  is  given 
to  the  fact  that  Nathan  Hale  had  passed  the  last  day  of  his 
life  in  the  midst  of  the  great  conflagration  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  where  other  officers  of  the  Continental  army  had  been 
feeding  the  flames. 

It  is  not  strange  that  he  has  been  designated  as  a  "spy" 
ever  since  his  execution,  and  that  he  was  so  named  in  all 

letters 


//  Joes  away 
with  silly  claims 


Not  to  make 
drawings  of 
forts 


The  most  impor- 
tant monograph 
on  Nathan  Hale 


66 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


No  other  name 
than  spy 


From  the  British 
Order  Book 


From  the 
'■'■Boston  Inde- 
pendent Chroni- 
cle" 


letters  to  the  British  papers  of  the  time.  For  the  officer  or  sol- 
dier captured  in  disguise  within  the  enemy's  lines  there  is  no 
other  designation.  He  was  executed  when  the  British  army 
was  in  an  angry  mood,  following  the  fire,  and  even  the  com- 
mon soldiers  were  permitted  to  offer  insults  to  his  body  on 
the  tree.  In  support  of  this  surprising  statement  I  quote  from 
a  letter  written  from  New  York  by  a  British  officer,  on  Sep- 
tember 25,  just  four  days  after  the  execution.  The  letter  was 
published  on  the  9th  of  November,  1776,  in  the  "Kentish 
Gazette,"  at  Canterbury,  England,  and  the  closing  paragraph, 
with  its  brutal  realism,  seems  to  have  been  added  by  the  writer 
as  the  mention  of  a  very  trivial  event :  — 

We  hanged  a  rebel  spy  the  other  day,  and  some  soldiers  got  out 
of  a  rebel  gentleman's  garden,  a  painted  soldier  on  a  board,  and 
hung  it  along  with  the  Rebel;  and  wrote  upon  it  General  Washing- 
ton, and  I  saw  it  yesterday  beyond  headquarters  by  the  roadside. 

The  British  Order  Book  uses  the  only  known  military  term, 
and  the  order  itself  was  read  on  that  Sunday  evening,  at  dress 
parade,  to  every  British  regiment  in  General  Howe's  com- 
mand :  — 

A  spy  from  the  enemy  by  his  own  confession,  apprehended  last 
night,  was  this  day  executed  at  eleven  o'clock,  behind  the  Artil- 
lery barracks. 

General  Hull's  statement  contains  pathetic  apologies  for 
some  mysterious  and  unnamed  act. 

Stephen  Hempstead  says,  he  had  nearly  executed  his  mis- 
sion and  was  passing  the  "  British  picquet  guard.  .  .  ." 

The  "Boston  Independent  Chronicle"  of  May  17,  1781, 
published  the  following:  — 

About  four  years  ago  Captain  Hale,  an  American  officer,  of  a 
liberal  education,  younger  than  Andre,  and  equal  to  him  in  sense, 
fortitude,  and  every  manly  accomplishment  though  without 
opportunity  of  being  so  highly  polished,  went  voluntarily  into  the 
City  of  New  York,  with  a  view  to  serve  his  invaded  country.  He 

HAD  PERFORMED  HIS  PART  THERE  WITH  GREAT  CAPACITY  AND  AD- 
DRESS BUT  WAS  ACCIDENTALLY  DISCOVERED. 

Lieutenant  Tench  Tilghman  wrote  to  his  father,  "  Some  were 
executed  the  next  day  upon  good  grounds." 

Colonel  Silliman  wrote  to  his  wife,  "They  executed  some  of 
our  friends  there  for  it  the  next  day." 


CHAPTER    VI 

EVENTS   FROM   DAY  TO   DAY 

H 

THAT  Sunday,  on  which  Captain  Montresor  came 
to  the  hnes  with  the  news  of  the  great  fire,  was 
crowded  with  stirring  events  in  the  army  on  Har- 
lem Heights.  In  the  morning  two  sailors,  who  had 
deserted  during  the  night  from  the  British  ship-of-war.  La 
Brune,  which  lay  near  Montresor's  Island,  were  brought  to 
General  Heath's  headquarters.  They  stated  that  most  of  the 
British  troops  had  left  the  island  and  that  the  cannon  from 
La  Brune  had  been  returned  to  the  ship;  that  there  were  a 
few  officers  at  "  the  house,"  in  which  was  a  quantity  of  bag- 
gage. General  Heath  thought  the  opportunity  a  promising 
one  for  a  night  attack  on  the  island.  His  officers  agreed  with 
him  and  General  Washington  gave  his  consent. 

The  two  sailors  were  then  brought  before  General  Heath, 
who  told  them  that  he  proposed  to  send  an  expedition  to  the 
island  that  night ;  that  if  their  information  proved  to  be  cor- 
rect he  would  send  them  back  into  the  country  where  they 
wished  to  go,  but  if  they  had  not  told  him  the  truth,  he  would 
hang  them  as  spies  the  next  morning.  They  were  given  an 
opportunity  to  correct  their  statement,  but  they  stood  firmly 
by  their  story,  and  submitted  very  cheerfully  to  the  condi- 
tions proposed. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Michael  Jackson  was  assigned  to  com- 
mand the  expedition  of  two  hundred  and  forty  men  in  three 
flat-bottomed  boats.  A  fourth  boat  followed  with  artillery 
on  board  to  be  used  in  case  of  necessity.  Major  Thomas 
Henly,  a  gallant  young  officer,  who  was  one  of  General 
Heath's  aides,  pleaded  for  permission  to  accompany  the  ex- 
pedition. Permission  was  reluctantly  given,  and  Major  Henly 
went  as  a  volunteer,  against  the  advice  of  his  friends. 

The 


67 


A  day  crowded 
with  stirring 
events 


Two  sailors 
brought  before 
General  Heath 


Major  Henly 
pleads  to  go 


68 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Boats  pass  the 
Roger  Morris 
house 


Expedition  ex- 
posed by  sentinel 


Death  of  Major 
Henly 


The  boats  fell  down  Harlem  "creek,"  past  the  Roger  Morris 
house,  with  the  ebb  tide  and  late  enough  to  reach  the  island 
at  the  beginning  of  the  flood.  General  Heath  and  some  of  his 
officers  were  observers  at  the  river-side,  near  the  proposed 
attack.  By  a  fatal  oversight  the  sentinel  at  the  mouth  of  the 
"  creek"  on  the  Harlem  shore  had  not  been  notified  of  the 
expedition,  and  as  the  boats  came  near  his  position,  he  chal- 
lenged them.  The  boats  stood  on  their  oars,  a  plunge  was  heard 
in  the  shallow  water  and  Major  Henly  waded  ashore  to  Gen- 
eral Heath. 

"Sir,  will  it  do?  "he  asked. 

*T  see  nothing  to  the  contrary,"  replied  General  Heath. 

"Then  it  shall  do,"  said  Major  Henly,  pressing  the  Gen- 
eral's hand,  and  wading  back  to  the  boat. 

The  sentinel  called  again, "  If  you  don't  come  ashore  I  will  fire," 
and  he  did  fire.  The  expedition  was  thoroughly  exposed  by  this 
time  and  should  have  been  recalled.  The  first  glimmer  of  dawn 
was  visible  as  the  boats  drew  near  to  the  island's  shore.  The 
field  officers  and  the  men  in  the  first  boat  landed,  expecting  the 
others  to  follow.  They  drove  back  the  enemy,  who  had  come 
to  the  shore,  but  they  were  abandoned  by  the  other  boats.  The 
enemy,  seeing  this,  returned  to  the  charge,  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Jackson  was  wounded  in  the  leg  and  Major  Henly  was 
shot  through  the  heart,  as  they  fell  back  to  their  boat. 

Everything  seems  to  have  been  badly  managed.  There  were 
confusion  and  insubordination  in  one  of  the  boats,  induced 
by  the  cowardly  behavior  of  Captain  John  Wisner,  who  was 
tried  by  court  martial  and  sentenced  to  dismissal  from  the 
service.  This  light  sentence  was  such  a  disappointment  to 
General  Washington  that  he  asked  the  court  to  reconsider  its 
verdict,  and  on  its  refusal  to  do  so,  he  brought  the  matter  to 
the  attention  of  Congress,  hoping  to  force  the  court  to  his 
views.  The  cowardice  of  Captain  Wisner  was  quite  as  abject 
and  groveling  as  that  of  Ebenezer  Leffingwell  and  was  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  failure  of  the  expedition  and  the  death  of 
Major  Henly,  and  General  Washington  wished  to  make  this 
case  an  example  to  the  army. 

A  letter  from  Harlem,  dated  September  26,  gives  a  brief 
account  of  Major  Henly :  — 

This 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


69 


This  young  Hero  was  a  native  of  Charlestown,  near  Boston, 
of  an  ancient  and  reputable  family.  He  was  in  England  when 
the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  arrived  there.  He  immedi- 
ately flew  to  the  assistance  of  his  country,  and  immediately  en- 
tered into  the  Continental  service,  in  the  regiment  commanded 
by  Colonel  Varnum,  from  which  he  was  transferred  to  the  corps 
of  Artillery,  commanded  by  Colonel  Knox,  as  Lieutenant  and 
Adjutant.  In  this  active  situation  he  was  beloved  and  respected 
by  the  officers  of  not  only  his  own  corps,  but  the  whole  army, 
and  his  reputation  as  a  good  officer  was  such  that,  a  few  days  be- 
fore his  death,  he  was  promoted  to  be  first  Aide-de-Camp  to 
Major  General  Heath. 

Major  Henly  was  buried  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
Tuesday,  September  24,  by  the  side  of  Colonel  Knowlton. 
The  services  were  held  at  the  quarters  of  Major  David  Henly, 
who  was  deputy  adjutant-general  of  General  Spencer's  divi- 
sion, which  was  still  on  the  ground  assigned  to  it  after  the 
battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  a  little  to  the  south  of  headquarters. 
Directly  after  the  funeral  John  Sloss  Hobart,  of  the  New 
York  Convention,  found  General  Washington  "much  indis- 
posed and  crowded  with  business."  So  much  consideration 
did  he  show  for  the  General's  exhausted  condition  that  he 
refrained  altogether  from  pressing  his  own  business.  Just  as 
he  was  leaving  General  Washington,  however,  he  tells  us,  the 
Committee  from  Congress  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War  arrived 
from  Philadelphia.  The  members  of  the  committee  were 
Roger  Sherman,  Elbridge  Gerry,  and  Francis  Lewis.  The 
interview  with  this  important  committee  may  have  been  brief, 
but  tired  and  worried  as  General  Washington  was,  it  is  sur- 
prising to  find  that  on  that  very  night  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Con- 
gress of  more  than  twenty-five  hundred  words,  beginning  with 
the  sentence,  "From  the  hours  allotted  to  sleep." 

From  the  public  record,  we  glean  a  few  items  only  of  the 
events  that  made  the  days  so  full  and  the  work  so  trying  to  the 
commanding  general.  At  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
Wednesday,  the  25th  of  September,  a  working  party  of  one 
thousand  men  stood  in  line  opposite  headquarters,  ready  to 
go  to  work  on  the  fortifications.  All  day  the  Committee  from 
Congress  was  in  session  in  the  house.  On  this  day  it  was  that 
Washington  discharged  two  regiments  of  Connecticut  militia, 
one  of  which  had  thirty  men  left  in  its  ranks  and  the  other 

only 


jf  native  of 
Char-Ustown 
near  Boston 


Burial  of  Major 
Henly 


Events  had 
made  the  day 
sofull 


70 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  officers 
in  session  with 
Committee  from 
Congress 


Two  mortars  of 
solid  metal  from 
Boston 


Diary  of  Ehen- 
e%er  IVithington 


only  twenty.  The  men  were  without  uniforms  and  could 
straggle  away  whenever  the  fall  ploughing  or  apple-picking 
required  their  presence  at  home.  General  Washington  wrote 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  "  I  am  full  in  opinion  with  you  that 
some  severe  examples  ought  to  be  made  of  the  late  deserters." 

On  Thursday,  the  26th,  the  general  officers  were  in  session 
at  headquarters  with  the  Committee  from  Congress  on  the 
Conduct  of  the  War.  The  court  martial  also  met  at  the  usual 
time,  Colonel  Ewing  presiding  in  the  absence  of  Colonel  Ma- 
gaw.  The  court  proceeded  with  the  trial  of  Lieutenant  Henry 
Drake,  for  absence  without  leave.  The  trial  was  a  brief  one,  no 
witnesses  being  called,  and  the  court  adjourned  on  the  ground 
that  it  had  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case;  therefore,  it  is  quite 
probable  that  the  general  officers  and  the  Committee  from 
Congress  occupied  the  court-martial  room  after  the  rising  of 
the  court.  One  of  the  results  of  this  conference  was  the  resig- 
nation of  Colonel  Stephen  Moylan,  the  Quartermaster  Gen- 
eral, and  the  appointment  of  General  Mifflin  in  his  stead,  which 
was  the  only  change  in  the  personnel  of  the  staff  while  in  the 
Morris  house. 

General  Sullivan,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  since  the  battle 
of  Long  Island,  and  who  had  just  been  exchanged  at  Elizabeth- 
town  for  the  British  General  MacDonald,  arrived  at  head- 
quarters, but  the  event  of  the  day  was  the  arrival  of  two  "mor- 
tars of  solid  metal,"  from  Boston,  which  were  delivered  at 
Fort  Washington  after  nearly  a  month  on  the  road. 

Transportation  in  those  early  days  was  laborious  and  slow. 
The  diary  of  Ebenezer  Withington,  of  Dorchester,  Massa- 
chusetts, for  which  we  are  indebted  to  his  great-grandson, 
A.  H.  Withington,  records  the  stately  progress  of  the  two 
great  mortars  of  "solid  metal"  from  Boston  to  Fort  Wash- 
ington. Ebenezer  Withington  seems  to  have  been  a  private 
in  the  ranks  and  his  quaint  story  is  best  told  in  his  own  words : 

Sept.  5,  1776.  Three  companies  of  artificers  marched  out  of 
Boston  for  New  York,  with  two  great  mortars  and  shears  and  all 
our  baggage. 

We  had  52  yoke  of  cattle.  Eleven  yoke  to  one  mortar,  and  12 
to  the  other.  The  mortars  weighed  1000  and  800  tbs.  each. 

Sept.  26th,  1776.  We  arrived  at  Fort  Washington  at  3  in  the 
afternoon  with  all  our  effects  safe  and  encamped  close  to  the  fort, 

this 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


this  fort  laying  nigh  the  river  and  on  the  hight  of  ground.  The 
ground  descends  every  way  from  the  fort  and  very  much  North 
West  and  North  East. 

It  lies  near  the  east  end  of  the  Island.  The  ground  bears  chiefly 
wild  onions. 

The  names  of  the  towns  I  passed  through  on  way  to  New  York — 


Dedham 

Walpole 

Wrentham 

Attleboro 

Pawtucket 

Johnson 

Scituate 

Coventry 

Volentown 

Plainfield 


Newent 

Norwich 

Mohegan 

New  London 

Rope  Ferry 

Lyme 

Saybrook 

Killingsworth 

Guilford 

Bradford 


New  Haven 
Milford 
Stratford 
Norwalk 
Stamford 
Mamaroneck 
New  Rochelle 
East  Chester 
Kings  Bridge 
New  York 


Sept.  28th,  1776.  We  moved  half  a  mile  northwest  from  the 
fort  and  encamped,  and  nearer  the  river  and  nearer  the  ferry. 

This  ferry  was  a  mile  from  the  fort  and  opposite  the  ferry  a  fort 
called  fort  Lee  on  the  height  of  rocks  on  the  Jersie  side. 

Up  the  river  many  miles  was  very  mountainous. 

At  this  ferry  lay  our  regulars  to  watch  the  enemy  —  for  all  the 
transportation  from  Albany  to  York  Island  was  to  this  ferry  ex- 
cept the  small  river  which  ran  up  to  Kings  Bridge. 

Below  the  ferry  lay  the  enemies  vessels. 

Sept.  30th,  1776.   It  was  pleasant. 

Oct.  7th,  1776.  We  worked  in  the  woods.  Hewing  of  timber. 

On  Saturday,  the  28th,  while  the  Magaw  court  martial  was 
in  session  at  headquarters,  and  directly  after  dispatching  his 
early  morning  letter  to  Congress,  General  Washington  crossed 
the  Hudson  at  the  little  ferry  near  which  the  artificers  were 
camped  and  spent  the  day  in  the  saddle  inspecting  the  posi- 
tions between  Fort  Lee  and  Powle's  Hook,  now  Hoboken.  It 
is  probable  that  the  Congressional  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of 
the  War,  then  at  headquarters,  joined  the  staff  on  that  occasion. 

A  peculiar  precautionary  measure  was  promulgated  in  Gen- 
eral Orders  of  that  evening,  directing  that,  in  case  of  an  attack 
by  the  enemy  on  the  lines  to  the  south,  two  guns  should  be 
fired  "at  the  redoubt  on  the  road  by  Colonel  Moylan's," 
which  was  near  the  top  of  "Break-Neck  Hill,"  this  alarm  "to 
be  repeated  by  two  others  at  headquarters,  and  the  like  num- 
ber at  Mount  Washington." 

The   published   letters   and   papers   emanating  from   the 

Morris 


71 


The  ground 
bean  wild  onions 


Up  the  river 
was  very 
mountainous 


A  peculiar 

precautionary 

measure 


72. 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Some  new  history 


Colonel  Silliman 
sent  his  shirts 
home  to  be 
washed 


Criticism  had 
been  carried  to 
the  danger-point 


Morris  house  were  either  strictly  confined  to  business,  or  any 
reference  to  social  functions  was  cut  out  before  they  were 
printed.  Certain  it  is  that  there  is  no  hint  in  any  published 
document  of  what  took  place  at  any  one  of  the  many  dinners  in 
the  Morris  house,  at  which  prominent  guests  were  entertained. 
Here,  however,  is  the  story  of  a  dinner,  given  by  General 
Washington  in  the  Morris  house,  probably  on  Tuesday  evening, 
October  i.  It  is  new  history,  and  none  the  less  interesting 
because  the  story  has  lain  hidden  for  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  in  two  faded  letters  written  by  Colonel  Silliman  to  his 
wife  in  Connecticut;  two  letters  out  of  hundreds  bound  in  a 
thick  folio,  the  property  of  a  brother  and  sister,  descended 
from  Colonel  Silliman  on  one  side  and  from  Governor  Trum- 
bull on  the  other,  whose  dining-room  is  enriched  with  a  paint- 
ing of  the  Trumbull  family  by  John  Trumbull,  and  from  whose 
parlor  wall  the  very  Mrs.  Silliman  of  the  faded  letters  looks 
down  in  high  rufif  and  powdered  hair.  Colonel  Silliman  was  a 
pious  gentleman  of  the  old  New  England  school,  who  loved 
his  second  wife,  in  a  serious  and  decorous  way,  and  who  sent 
his  linen  home  to  be  washed,  and  whose  letters  were  a  gentle 
blending  of  piety  and  love,  with  directions  as  to  how  the  clean 
shirts  were  to  be  forwarded  by  the  first  horseman  riding  to 
Harlem  Heights  who  would  take  them.  The  letters  were  writ- 
ten two  weeks  after  the  retreat  from  New  York,  when  the  two 
Connecticut  brigades  of  Parsons  and  Fellows  had  fled  in  a 
panic  from  a  few  British  grenadiers.  The  affair  was  the  talk 
of  the  army.  Nowhere  had  the  conduct  of  the  Connecticut 
troops  been  more  severely  rated  than  among  the  young  gentle- 
men of  General  Washington's  military  family,  who  were 
mostly  Southerners.  Criticism  had  been  carried  to  the  danger- 
point.  Governor  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut,  was  General 
Washington's  strongest  support  in  New  England,  and  his 
son,  Joseph  Trumbull,  was  Commissary-General  on  the  staff. 
Ill-feeling  had  already  developed  between  young  Trumbull 
and  Colonel  Reed,  the  Adjutant-General.  It  was  time  to  pour 
oil  on  the  troubled  waters,  and  as  the  event  proved,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  the  time  to  pay  some 
marked  attention  to  some  prominent  Connecticut  field  offi- 
cers, and  Colonels  Silliman  and  Douglas  were  selected. 

Such 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


73 


Such  were  the  conditions  on  Sunday,  the  29th  of  Septem- 
ber, when  Colonel  Gold  S.  Silliman  wrote  to  his  wife:  — 

General  Washington's  servant  has  just  been  in  with  a  billet 
inviting  me  to  dinner.  He  required  an  answer  which  is  unusual 
—  Colonel  Douglas  received  the  like  —  I  don't  know  what  to 
make  of  it  —  I  am  suspicious  —  but  we  shall  see.^ 

Strange  to  say,  the  precise  date  of  this  dinner  is  still  envel- 
oped in  mystery,  for  General  Washington's  formal  invitation 
to  Colonel  Douglas,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Benjamin 
L.  Douglas,  of  Boston,  seemingly  contradicts  the  letter  of 
Colonel  Silliman  as  to  the  date,  and  at  the  same  time  contra- 
dicts itself.  It  is  a  faded  scrap  of  paper,  about  three  by  seven 
inches  in  size. 

General  Washington's  compliments  to  Commandant  Douglas. 
Requests  the  favor  of  his  company  at  dinner  to  day  at  3  o'clock. 
Tuesday  Morn'g.  Septemb'r  30th. 

Now  it  happened,  in  that  particular  year,  that  September 
30  was  Monday,  and  Tuesday  was  October  i .  Here  is  evidently 
an  error  of  the  aide  who  wrote  the  invitation  to  Colonel  Doug- 
las. Colonel  Silliman's  letter,  dated  Sunday,  September  29, 
says,  "Colonel  Douglas  has  the  like."  Having  written  a  letter 
in  those  days,  it  was  customary  to  hold  on  to  it  until  an  oppor- 
tunity was  found  to  send  it  by  some  chance  messenger,  and 
events  that  occurred  during  the  period  of  waiting  were  fre- 
quently jotted  down  without  entering  a  new  date.  It  is  prob- 
able that  Colonel  Silliman  was  finishing  his  Sunday  letter  on 
Tuesday  morning  with  his  story  of  the  invitation,  and  that  the 
aide  who  wrote  Colonel  Douglas's  invitation  forgot  for  the 
moment  that  the  month  of  September  was  over  and  October 
had  begun.  The  dinner  was  evidently  on  Tuesday,  October 
I,  and  the  Committee  from  Congress,  which  made  its  report 
to  that  body  on  Thursday,  was  paying  its  farewell  visit  to 
Washington,  before  starting  in  the  early  morning  for  Phila- 
delphia. 

Washington  was  overburdened  with  business  cares;  General 
Sullivan  and  the  Committee  from  Congress  were  guests  at 
headquarters,  but  the  Commander-in-Chief  had  time  to  be 
politic.    The  dinner  took  place  in  the  dining-room  at  the 

Morris 

'  Manuscript  letters  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Henrietta  Hubbard. 


General  Wash- 
ington i  servant 
with  a  billet 


An  error  of  the 
aide  who  wrote 
the  invitation 


Dinner  on  Tues- 
day, October  I 


74 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  Adjutant- 
General  contin- 
ues his  insults 


IFashington  not 
to  be  surprised 


Some  ludicrous 
happenings 


Morris  house,  and  Colonel  Silliman  tells  us,  in  his  next  letter 
to  his  wife,  of  what  happened.  He  wrote  that  the  Adjutant- 
General  continued  his  insults  to  the  New  England  troops  at 
the  dinner,  but  that  General  Washington  took  him  to  one  side 
and  told  him  that  he  did  not  believe  in  such  conduct.  Further- 
more, he  tells  us  that  the  Committee  from  Congress  came  in 
during  the  dinner  and  that  he  had  the  opportunity  to  tell  them 
if  such  talk  continued  "the  Continent  would  be  ruined." 

While  General  Howe  in  New  York  was  leisurely  making  his 
plans  to  capture  the  little  army  on  Harlem  Heights,  and  taking 
care  that  no  front  attack  should  be  made  on  that  position, 
General  Washington  was  in  hourly  expectation  of  such  an 
attack.  Probably  General  Howe  directed  the  movement  of 
troops  to  encourage  just  such  apprehensions.  In  any  event, 
Washington  was  determined  not  to  be  surprised.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  30th  of  September,  and  for  several  mornings  there- 
after, every  regiment  on  Harlem  Heights  was  standing  under 
arms  before  daybreak,  and  so  remained  until  sunrise,  expect- 
ing at  any  moment  to  hear  the  boom  of  the  two  guns  at  the 
redoubt  on  the  top  of  Break-Neck  Hill. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  apprehensions  and  precautions,  the 
daily  routine  of  business  at  the  Morris  house  went  on  as  usual. 
The  Adjutant-General's  office  was  the  bustling  center  of  head- 
quarters, where  brigade-majors  and  adjutants  and  orderlies 
passed  in  and  out,  saluting  the  armed  guard  on  the  porch; 
where  clerks  copied  letters  and  condensed  morning  reports 
and  glanced  out  of  window  at  mounted  orderlies  and  held 
horses,  and  at  such  of  the  pageantry  of  war  as  was  drawn  to 
headquarters.  It  was  most  likely  through  one  of  these  win- 
dows that  Colonel  Reed  saw  "a  Captain  of  Cavalry,  of  Wash- 
ington's Body  Guard,"  shaving  one  of  his  men,  and  wrote 
gloomily  to  his  wife  of  discipline  in  the  Continental  army. 

Ludicrous  things  did  happen  through  lack  of  discipline.  On 
October  i  General  Washington  approved  the  sentence  of  one 
James  McCormick,  who  had  been  tried  in  General  Heath's 
division  for  desertion  and  sentenced  to  suffer  death,  and  or- 
dered the  execution  to  take  place  on  the  following  day.  It  hap- 
pened that  several  hours  before  this  order  was  issued,  James 
McCormick  had  been  discharged  from  the  guardhouse  by 

Captain 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


7S 


Captain  DeWitt,  through  a  misunderstanding,  and  that  before 
leaving  James  had  treated  the  other  prisoners  to  cider. 
Later  in  the  day  Colonel  Grayson  wrote  to  General  Heath :  — 

His  Excellency,  upon  considering  further  on  the  subject  of  Mc- 
Cormick,  thinks  it  will  be  best  to  order  him  here  for  execution: 
You  will  therefore  be  pleased  to  have  this  done.  You  will  be 
pleased  to  let  the  prisoner  know  he  is  certainly  to  die,  and  direct 
that  a  blessing  may  attend  him. 

Desertion  and  cowardice  were  two  offenses  that  General 
Washington  abhorred.  It  had  been,  for  some  time,  his  inten- 
tion to  execute  the  first  flagrant  offenders  under  these  two 
heads,  as  an  example  and  a  warning  to  the  army.  His  own 
kindness  of  heart  spared  the  skulker  Leffingwell,  of  Norwich, 
and  the  Beal  court  martial  balked  him  of  his  purpose  in  the 
case  of  Captain  Wisner,  who  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the 
failure  of  the  expedition  to  Montresor's  Island  and  for  the 
death  of  the  gallant  Major  Henly;  and  now  the  deserter, 
James  McCormick,  escapes  his  deserts  and  strolls  off  with 
a  contemptuous  indifference  to  the  authorities,  as  he  coolly 
treats  his  prison-mates  to  cider. 

There  were  other  offenses  that  worried  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  at  this  period,  such  as  the  lack  of  cleanliness,  and  the 
neglect  of  the  most  ordinary  sanitary  arrangements  in  the 
camps  and  the  waste  of  food;  further  evidence  of  the  lack  of 
discipline  in  the  regiments  of  raw  militia.  The  General  Orders 
on  Harlem  Heights  were  often  timely  lectures  on  cleanliness 
and  patriotism  and  the  soldierly  virtues  that  were  lacking  in 
the  ranks.  In  the  Orders  for  the  28th  of  September  we  find 
this  passage:  — 

The  General  has  also,  in  riding  through  the  camps,  observed  a 
shameful  waste  of  provision,  —  large  pieces  of  fine  beef  not  only 
thrown  away,  but  left  above  ground  to  putrefy.  While  such  prac- 
tices continue,  troops  will  be  sickly. 

The  2d  of  October  began  with  quite  an  aggressive  and  en- 
tirely successful  foray  to  secure  forage  lying  between  the  lines 
of  the  two  armies,  of  which  a  Harlem  letter  of  the  3d  gives  the 
following  account :  — 

Yesterday  eleven  hundred  men  were  ordered  to  parade  at  day- 
light, to  bring  off  the  corn  hay,  &c.,  which  lay  on  Harlem  Plains, 

between 


Treated  the 
other  prisoners 
to  cider 


Other  officers 
worried  the 
Commander-in- 
Chief 


A  foray  to  secure 
forage 


76 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


William  Ellery's 
humorous  account 


Death  of  Major 
Leitch 


Our  patrol's 
mistake 


between  the  enemy  and  us.  This  property  had  lain  for  a  fortnight 
past  unmolested,  both  sides  looking  at  it,  and  laying  claim  to  it 
until  to-day,  when  it  was  brought  off  by  us.  A  covering  party 
were  within  musket  shot  of  the  enemy,  but  they  made  no  other 
movements  than  to  man  their  lines;  and  three  thousand  of  our 
men  appearing,  the  enemy  struck  their  tents,  expecting  an  attack. 
Our  fatigue  party  finished  the  business,  and  not  a  single  shot  was 
fired. 

Another  account  of  the  raid  on  the  grain  appears  in  a  letter 
written  from  Philadelphia,  on  October  ii,  by  William  Ellery 
to  Governor  Cooke.  With  time  and  distance  the  story  has 
grown  a  little :  — 

General  Washington,  as  I  am  told,  played  off  a  pretty  manoeuvre 
the  other  day.  Determined  to  remove  the  grain  and  the  furniture 
of  the  houses  from  Harlem,  he  drew  out  into  the  field  a  party  of 
seventeen  hundred.  The  enemy  turned  out  as  many.  They  ap- 
proached within  three  hundred  yards  and  looked  at  each  other. 
While  they  were  thus  opposed  front  to  front,  our  wagons  carried 
off  the  grain  and  furniture.  When  this  was  accomplished,  both 
parties  retired  within  their  lines.  It  is  said  that  our  men  preserved 
very  good  faces.  It  would  be  of  use  to  draw  out  our  men  in  battle 
array  frequently,  to  let  them  look  the  enemy  in  the  face,  and  have 
frequent  skirmishes  with  them. 

On  the  forenoon  of  Thursday,  October  3,  Major  Leitch  died 
in  the  hospital  of  lockjaw,  having  until  then  survived  his  wounds 
received  at  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights  on  the  i6th  of  Sep- 
tember. 

With  every  succeeding  day  the  apprehension  of  an  attack 
by  the  enemy  grew  more  and  more  acute,  and  Washington's 
army  was  more  and  more  on  the  alert.  Tench  Tilghman 
writes  on  the  3d  to  Egbert  Benson,  of  the  Convention:  — 

We  had  an  alarm  this  morning  at  four  o'clock;  we  had  our  men 
instantly  under  arms,  but  it  turned  out  a  mistake  of  our  patroles, 
who  conceited  they  had  seen  a  large  body  of  the  enemy  advancing 
to  our  lines. 

By  this  time  the  pending  attack  began  to  be  looked  for  at 
some  point  on  the  East  River  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Bronx. 
General  Heath  tells  us,  in  his  "Memoirs,"  that,  accompanied 
by  Colonel  Hand,  he  reconnoitered  his  lines  in  the  direction  of 
Frog's  Neck.  There  was  a  causeway  over  a  swamp,  between 
Westchester  and  the  Neck,  and  a  tide  mill  on  the  creek.  A  line 

of 


Lieutenant-Colonel  Tench  Tilghman 

Auie-de-Catnft 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


of  cordwood  formed  a  natural  breastAvork  at  the  Westchester 
end  of  the  causeway.  Here,  by  order  of  General  Heath,  Colonel 
Hand  immediately  stationed  a  subaltern  and  twenty-five  men 
as  a  permanent  alarm  post,  and  the  planks  of  the  causeway 
were  removed. 

Small  detachments  of  General  Washington's  troops  were 
already  posted  in  a  chain  of  fortified  camps  along  the  Bronx, 
facing  that  river  and  extending  nearly  to  White  Plains,  where 
commissary  supplies  were  stored.  Every  day  seems  to  have 
contributed  some  new  alarm  —  some  fresh  sign  of  the  activ- 
ity of  the  enemy,  which,  however  trivial,  never  passed  with- 
out notice  at  headquarters.  On  October  6,  which  was  Sun- 
day, Colonel  Webb  wrote  to  General  Heath:  — 

I  am  directed  by  his  Excellency  to  inform  you  that  in  the  night, 
about  twelve  o'clock,  our  men  distinctly  heard  the  enemy  throw- 
ing tools  into  boats  from  Montresor's  and  Blackwell's  islands, 
and  that  boats  were  moving  up  the  Sound  most  of  the  night. 
About  twenty  boatloads  of  men  rowed  up,  and  landed  on  one  of 
the  islands  called  the  Two  Brothers. 

On  this  day  we  find  the  first  mention  of  a  bridge  of  boats 
which  seems  to  have  been  laid  in  the  Harlem  River  for  the 
convenience  of  crossing  directly  from  headquarters  to  Morris 
Heights.  Tench  Tilghman,  in  a  letter  to  William  Duer,  writ- 
ten on  the  6th,  says :  — 

A  bridge  of  boats  is  to  be  thrown  over  Harlem  River  just  at 
this  place,  which  will  form  a  fine,  easy  communication  between, 
should  the  attack  be  made  either  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

The  headquarters  and  most  of  the  troops  were  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  and  in  case  of  operations  beginning  on  the 
East  River,  beyond  the  Bronx,  where  they  actually  did  begin, 
there  would  be  great  delay  in  crossing  at  King's  Bridge,  in- 
volving, in  marching  and  countermarching,  a  distance  of  five 
miles.  On  the  following  day  Tilghman  again  writes  to  Duer 
to  send  immediately  six  anchors  and  cables  to  moor  the  boats 
for  the  bridge  over  the  Harlem. 

On  the  same  day,  Monday,  the  yth  of  October,  the  new 
court  martial,  of  which  Colonel  Weedon  was  president,  held 
its  first  session  at  headquarters.  Just  at  evening  General  Lord 
Stirling  was  put  ashore  from  a  British  ship  near  Fort  Wash- 
ington 


11 


A  breastwork 
of  cordwood 


First  mention  of 
a  bridge 


First  session  of 
JVeedon  court 
martial 


78 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  Stirling 
a  guest  at  head- 
quarters 


Lieutenant 
Tilghman  to  the 
Convention 


Mr.  Bushnell's 

torpedo 


ington  and  exchanged  for  Governor  Montfort  Brown,  who  was 
at  the  Morris  house  awaiting  his  arrival.  It  was  probably  on 
the  day  before  that  the  two  Sachems  of  the  Cayugas,  with 
Mr.  Dean,  the  interpreter,  arrived  at  headquarters.  General 
Stirling  remained  a  guest  at  headquarters  until  October  ii, 
when  he  assumed  command  of  General  Mifflin's  brigade. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  October,  not  only  headquar- 
ters, but  the  whole  army  on  the  Heights  of  Harlem,  was  sur- 
prised and  chagrined  to  see  several  British  ships  easily  pass 
over  the  obstructions  between  Fort  Washington  and  Fort  Lee, 
on  which  construction  had  been  going  on  since  August,  and 
scatter  the  small  craft  engaged  on  or  connected  with  such 
construction.  Tilghman's  report  to  the  Convention  is  dated 
October  9:  — 

About  eight  o'clock  this  morning,  the  Roebuck  and  Phenix, 
of  forty-four  guns  each,  and  a  frigate  about  20  guns,  got  under 
way  from  about  Bloomingdale,  where  they  have  been  lying  some 
time,  and  stood  on  with  an  easy  southerly  breeze  towards  our 
chevaux-de-frise,  which  we  hoped  would  have  given  them  some 
interruption,  while  our  batteries  played  upon  them,  but  to  our 
surprise  and  mortification,  they  all  came  through  without  the 
least  difficulty,  and  without  receiving  any  apparent  damage  from 
our  forts,  which  kept  playing  on  them  from  both  sides  of  the 
river.  .  .  . 

As  soon  as  the  Phoenbc  and  the  Roebuck,  with  their  con- 
sorts, had  succeeded  in  passing  the  forts,  they  headed  for  two 
American  ships  and  two  row-galleys  which  lay  in  the  stream 
above.  The  two  ships  were  waiting  to  be  loaded  with  stone 
and  sunk  as  further  obstruction  of  the  river.  The  ships  were 
run  aground  at  Philipse's  Mills,  now  Yonkers,  and  the  row- 
galleys  near  Dobb's  Ferry.  From  General  Heath's  "Mem- 
oirs" we  quote  a  very  interesting  account  of  would-be  mine 
laying  at  that  early  period:  — 

The  British  ships,  after  passing  Fort  Washington,  took  a 
schooner  loaded  with  rum,  sugar,  wine,  &c.,  and  sunk  a  sloop, 
which  had  on  board  the  machine,  invented  by  and  under  the 
direction  of  a  Mr.  Bushnell,  intended  to  blow  up  the  British  ships. 
This  machine  was  worked  under  water.  It  conveyed  a  magazine 
of  power,  which  was  to  be  fixed  under  the  keel  of  a  ship,  then 
freed  from  the  machine,  and  left  with  clockwork  going,  which 
was  to  produce  fire  when  the  machine  had  got  out  of  the  way. 

Mr. 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


79 


Mr.  Bushnell  had  great  confidence  of  its  success,  and  had  made 
several  experiments,  which  seemed  to  give  him  countenance,  but 
its  fate  was  truly  a  contrast  to  its  design. 

Ebenezer  Withington  has  something  to  say  in  his  quaint 
way  about  the  happenings  of  this  eventful  morning.  He 
makes  a  mistake  in  his  date,  however,  locating  the  event  on 
the  8th  of  October  instead  of  ithe  9th,  but  Washington  makes 
the  same  mistake  in  writing  to  Governor  Trumbull.  Here  is 
what  Withington  says:  — 

Oct.  8th,  1776.  This  morning  pleasant  and  still  at  8  o'clock  we 
saw  the  enemy  hoisting  the  sails  of  three  of  their  ships  and  four 
tenders  and  came  up  North  River.  The  forts  kept  a  constant 
firing  at  them,  but  they  did  not  fire  until  they  came  opposite  Fort 
Washington.  All  our  regulars  ran  up  Spiten  Devil  the  river  that 
comes  out  of  the  North  River  and  so  makes  York  an  island. 

This  name  took  its  origen  from  a  man  who  was  riding  that  way 
before  there  was  any  bridge.  Upon  being  informed  there  was  no 
way  to  cross  but  the  ferry  —  he  immediately  replied  he  would  ride 
over  in  spite  of  the  devil,  and  rode  in  and  was  drowned. 

As  a  fool  dieth  died  he. 

One  of  our  Gallies  kept  up  the  river  and  was  taken;  the  hands 
all  escaped. 

The  enemy  went  up  North  River  and  lay  in  Tappans  Bay. 

Colonel  Ewing  writes  to  the  Maryland  Committee  of  Safety: 

About  four  days  ago  there  was  three  men-of-war,  frigates, 
went  up  North  River  past  all  our  forts.  One  gentleman  walked 
the  second  deck,  seemingly  in  command,  as  if  nothing  was  the 
matter,  and  seven  forts  keeping  a  constant  fire  at  the  ship. 

Notwithstanding  the  excitement  of  the  morning.  General 
Heath's  command  moved,  in  battle  formation,  to  the  south 
over  the  Westchester  hills.  In  General  Heath's  very  interest- 
ing "Memoirs"  he  avoids  the  first  person  by  using  the  phrase 
"Our  General."  On  the  9th  of  October  he  tells  us:  — 

Our  General's  Division  was  formed  in  line,  with  its  advance, 
reserve,  flank-guards,  and  artillery,  all  in  order  of  battle,  when 
they  were  moved  down  over  the  different  grounds  which  it  was 
supposed  might  be  the  scene  of  action.  Some  of  this  ground  was 
very  broken,  and  there  were  many  fences.  These  afforded  fre- 
quent opportunities  for  the  troops  to  break  off  and  form;  for  the 
pioneers  to  open  avenues,  &c  and  for  the  whole  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  every  part  of  the  ground,  and  the  best  choice  of 
it,  if  suddenly  called  to  action. 

Although 


Ebenezer 
IVithington 


As  a  fool  dieth 
died  he 


General  Heath' i 
command  in 
battle  formation 


8o 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Americans  not 
disheartened 


Two  new  ships 
to  be  sunk 


IV e  are  sinking 
ships  as  fast  as 
possible 


Although  disappointed  at  the  ease  with  which  the  enemy's 
vessels  passed  the  obstructions  in  front  of  Fort  Washington 
the  Americans  were  not  disheartened.  General  Washington, 
in  a  letter  to  General  Schuyler,  written  on  the  loth,  after  de- 
scribing the  exploit  of  the  Phoenix  and  the  Roebuck,  says:  — 

I  have  given  directions  to  complete  the  obstructions  as  fast  as 
possible,  and  I  flatter  myself  if  they  allow  us  a  little  time  more, 
that  the  passage  will  become  extremely  difficult,  if  not  entirely 
insecure. 

On  the  same  day  Adjutant-General  Reed  advises  General 
Heath:  — 

The  General  desires  you  would  immediately  order  a  sufRcient 
party  of  men  under  Captain  Cook  to  get  off  and  bring  down  the 
vessel  which  is  grounded  above;  and  that  in  the  mean  time  the 
ballasting  the  rest  be  proceeded  in  with  all  possible  expedition. 
It  is  of  so  much  consequence,  that  his  Excellency  begs  the  utmost 
attention  may  be  paid  to  it. 

On  the  same  day,  Lieutenant  Tilghman  writes  to  Robert 
R.  Livingston:  — 

The  two  new  ships  are  going  to  be  sunk  immediately,  to  en- 
deavor to  stop  the  channel,  and  try  if  we  cannot  hinder  the  men- 
of-war  already  up  from  coming  down,  and  more  going  up. 

The  "ballasting"  mentioned  by  Colonel  Reed  was  loading 
the  vessels  with  stone  preparatory  to  sinking  them,  and  the 
"two  new  ships"  were  the  vessels  that  had  just  been  chased 
up  the  river  and  run  ashore  to  save  them.  General  Clinton, 
at  King's  Bridge,  reports,  "The  two  ships  to  be  sunk  run 
ashore  near  Colonel  Phillips's ;  we  sent  a  party  to  bring  them 
down  last  night,  so  that  I  hope  they  are  safe." 

Immediately  after  the  ships  and  galleys  were  beached,  de- 
tachments of  infantry  and  artillery  were  sent  up  for  their 
protection.  Such  action  was  quite  sufficient  to  keep  the  ene- 
my's boats  from  cutting  them  out.  We  find  no  mention,  how- 
ever, of  the  stranded  ships  again  afloat  and  disposed  of  as 
intended.  On  the  17th,  Tilghman  reports  to  the  Convention, 
"We  are  sinking  ships  as  fast  as  possible:  two  hundred  men 
are  daily  employed,  but  they  take  an  immense  quantity  of 
stone  for  the  purpose."  The  following  day  the  fighting  began 
at  Pell's  Point,  which  was  the  opening  of  the  campaign  that 

ended 


Lt.-Col.  Samuel  B.  Webb  Dr.  John  Morgan 

A'tde-de-Camp  Medical  Officer 


Col.  Joseph  Reed  Lt.-Col.  Robert  Hanson  Harrison 

Adjutant-General  Military  Secretary 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


8i 


ended  at  White  Plains.  The  only  letter  that  General  Heath 
seems  to  have  written  on  the  i8th  was  to  Captain  Horton, 
who  was  on  guard  over  the  stranded  ships:  "As  soon  as  the 
ships  are  got  off,  you  will  return  with  the  cannon." 

On  Friday,  October  ii,  an  event  occurred  of  which  I  find 
no  official  mention,  although  it  must  have  been  of  peculiar 
interest  to  the  staff  in  the  Morris  house.  Three  of  the  crew 
of  General  Washington's  barge  were  accidentally  killed  by  a 
shot  from  Fort  Washington. 

This  afternoon  General  Washington's  barge,  coming  down  the 
Hudson,  with  top  sail  hoisted,  was  mistaken  for  a  tender  of  the 
enemy  and  a  12  pd.  shot  was  fired  from  Fort  Washington,  which 
killed  three  of  the  crew.^ 

Of  this  event  Ebenezer  Withington  has  a  word  to  say,  and 
strangely  enough  he  names  the  officer  who  fired  the  shot :  — 

Oct.  loth  1776.   Pleasant  to  day. 

This  morning  General  Washingtons  barge  coming  down  the 
river  narrowly  made  her  escape  and  was  chased  by  a  tender. 

At  three  in  the  afternoon  our  people  thinking  it  was  the  enemy 
Capt  Horton  of  Boston  firing  a  12  pounder  and  endeavoring  to 
fire  before  the  barge,  but  the  ball  went  under  the  sail  and  killed 
three  men  dead  and  wounded  one,  there  were  10  men  in  the  barge. 

It  seems  that  General  Washington's  barge  was  among  the 
craft,  anchored  above  the  fort,  that  fled  up  the  river  before 
the  enemy's  ships  when  they  sailed  over  the  obstructions,  and 
it  had  been  gone  three  days  before  it  got  past  the  Roebuck  and 
the  Phoenix  and  came  down  to  be  fired  on  by  the  fort.  A  letter 
from  Harlem,  dated  October  13,  says:  — 

The  day  before  yesterday  the  General's  barge,  which  had  run 
up  the  North  River  before  the  ships,  returned,  and  came  oppo- 
site to  Mount  Washington,  where  our  people  mistook  her  for 
one  of  the  enemy's  boats,  fired  at  her,  killed  three  men  and 
wounded  the  Captain. 

The  passage  by  the  frigates.  Roebuck  and  Phoenix,  of  the 
forts  to  an  anchorage  near  Dobb's  Ferry,  was  a  part  of  General 
Howe's  plan  to  surround  and  capture  the  army  on  Harlem 
Heights.  The  column  landing  on  the  Sound  was  to  be  ex- 
tended across  the  country  above  Washington's  forces  to  meet 
the  ships.   The  movement  of  the  American  troops  toward 

White 

*  Heath's  Memoirs 


An  event  of 
which  I  find  no 
official  mention 


Accident  to 
General  JVash- 
ing ton's  barge 


Passage  of  the 
Roebuck  and 
Phoenix 


82 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  ■woodplU  on 
the  causeway 


The  great  mor- 
tars move  to  the 
"Jersies 


General  Wash- 
ington calls  a 
council  of  war 


White  Plains,  already  under  way,  was  so  far  advanced,  during 
the  encampment  of  the  British  at  New  Rochelle,  that  the 
general  engagement  was  forced  to  take  place  on  ground  chosen 
by  General  Washington.  The  ships  took  their  position  off 
Dobb's  Ferry  on  the  9th  of  October,  and  General  Howe  landed 
about  four  thousand  troops  at  Frog's  Neck  on  the  nth.  There 
were  days  of  adverse  winds  that  prevented  a  part  of  General 
Howe's  transports  from  sailing  through  Hell  Gate,  which  ac- 
counts for  his  fatal  delay  in  carrying  out  his  original  plan. 
The  four  thousand  men  landed  on  Frog's  Neck  found  Colonel 
Hand's  "subaltern  and  twenty-five  men"  behind  the  wood- 
pile at  the  inner  end  of  the  causeway.  The  alarm  post  was  re- 
inforced with  one  small  cannon  and  the  planks  of  the  cause- 
way had  been  removed  according  to  programme.  There  was 
no  such  thing  as  flanking  the  position,  so  the  four  thousand 
men  settled  down  in  a  fortified  camp. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  original  landing,  which  was  made 
in  the  early  morning  of  the  13  th.  As  before,  Ebenezer  With- 
ington  is  a  day  behind  in  his  chronology.  He  makes  the  follow- 
ing record  in  his  diary:  — 

Oct  nth,  1776.  This  day  the  enemy  landed  at  Frog  Point. 
Several  skirmishes  took  place  with  the  enemy. 

Oct  13  th,  1776.  We  worked  on  traveling  magazines  till  the  17th. 

We  got  the  great  mortars  down  to  and  over  the  ferry  to  the 
Jersies. 

It  is  from  Fort  Washington  to  the  ferry  near  a  mile  and  all  the 
way  down  hill. 

The  adjutant  sending  a  number  of  men  to  draw  an  eighteen 
pounder  from  the  fort  to  the  ferry  the  men  were  harnessed  and 
without  any  apprehension  of  danger  never  put  on  a  rope  behind. 

The  cannon  started  down  the  steep  hill  and  the  men  threw  off 
their  harness  and  the  cannon  broke  the  iron  short  off  that  goes 
into  the  transom  and  not  a  man  killed  which  was  wonderful. 

Report  of  the  landing  was  promptly  sent  to  headquarters 
by  General  Heath.  Washington's  reply  was  made  through 
the  Adjutant-General :  — 

Oct.  13th,  1776. 
Sir:  It  being  necessary  since  the  late  movement  of  the  enemy 
to  form  some  plan,  the  General  proposes  a  meeting  of  the  General 
Officers  this  day,  at  twelve  o'clock,  at  or  near  King's  Bridge.  He 
desires  you  would  give  those  in  your  division  notice  of  it,  with  as 
little  stir  as  possible,  and  by  the  return  of  the  messenger  let  him 

know 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


83 


know  where  you  would  have  them  meet,  as  we  are  strangers  to  a 
suitable  place. 

I  am,  sir,  in  haste,  your  obedient,  humble  servant. 

J.  Reed. 

To  General  Heath. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th,  General  Washington,  accom- 
panied by  his  favorite  aide,  Lieutenant  Tilghman,  and  prob- 
ably by  other  general  officers,  rode  to  East  and  West  Chester, 
as  Tilghman  expressed  it,  "to  see  how  matters  stood."  Gen- 
eral Lee,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  in  New  York,  arrived  at  the 
Morris  house  during  General  Washington's  absence.  He  took 
horse  and  joined  the  reconnoissance  in  Westchester.  Colonel 
Reed  was  in  White  Plains  during  the  day.  On  the  i6th  another 
council  of  war  was  held  at  General  Lee's  headquarters  above 
King's  Bridge:  — 

Proceedings  of  a  council  of  General  Officers. 

Present:  His  Excellency  General  Washington, 

Major  Generals  Lee,  Putnam,  Heath,  Spencer,  Sullivan. 

Brigadier  Generals  Lord  Stirling,  Mifflin,  McDougal,  Parsons, 
Nixon,  Wadsworth,  Scott,  Fellows,  Clinton,  Lincoln. 

Colonel  Knox,  commanding  Artillery. 

The  General  read  sundry  Letters  from  the  Convention  and  par- 
ticular members,  of  the  turbulence  of  the  disaffected  in  the  upper 
parts  of  the  State;  and  also  sundry  accounts  of  deserters  showing 
the  enemy's  intention  to  surround  us. 

After  much  consideration  and  debate,  the  following  question 
was  stated:  whether,  (it  having  appeared  that  the  obstructions 
in  the  North  River  have  proved  insufficient,  and  that  the  enemys 
whole  force  is  now  in  our  rear  on  Frog  Point,)  it  is  now  deemed 
possible  in  our  situation  to  prevent  the  enemy  cutting  off  the 
communication  with  the  country  and  compelling  us  to  fight  them 
at  all  disadvantages,  or  surrender  prisoners  at  discression. 

Agreed  with  but  one  dissenting  voice,  (viz:  General  Clinton) 
that  it  is  not  possible  to  prevent  the  communication,  and  that 
one  of  the  consequences  mentioned  in  the  question  must  certainly 
follow. 

Agreed  that  Fort  Washington  be  retained  as  long  as  possible. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  council  of  war  at  General 
Lee's  headquarters,  the  general  officers  rode  in  a  body  to  re- 
connoiter  the  ground  in  the  direction  of  Pell's  Point.  On  the 
i6th,  General  Greene  wrote  to  Governor  Cooke,  "A  battle  is 
daily,  nay  hourly  expected";  and  Tilghman  to  Duer,  "One 
of  the  deserters,  a  good  sensible  fellow,  says  a  man  of  war  lays 

at 


Arrival  of 
General  Lee 


Decision  to  leave 
garrison  in  Fort 
IFashington 


84 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Fighting  begins 
at  Pell's  Point 


A  dull  time  about 
headquarters 


Charles  Knowles^ 
Clerk 


at  the  Hook  ready  to  sail  with  the  news  of  the  issue  of  the  move 
to  Frog's  Point."  On  the  following  day  he  writes  again  to 
Duer:  "We  may  say  the  17th  of  October  is  come  and  nearly 
past  without  the  predicted  blow.  The  winds  have  not  been 
favorable  to  pass  Hell  Gate." 

On  the  forenoon  of  Friday,  the  i8th,  however,  the  long  ex- 
pected fighting  began  at  Pell's  Point  instead  of  at  Frog's 
Neck.  General  Washington  arrived  at  the  causeway  leading 
from  Frog's  Neck  to  the  village  of  Westchester,  just  as  General 
Heath  had  completed  his  disposition  of  troops  to  oppose  the 
advance  of  the  British,  He  ordered  General  Heath  to  bring 
the  rest  of  his  division  into  position  to  prevent  the  enemy  from 
landing  between  the  mouth  of  the  Bronx  and  the  Harlem 
River.  The  British  moved  in  the  opposite  direction,  however, 
reembarking  and  landing  on  Pell's  Point,  where  they  encoun- 
tered Glover's  brigade  posted  behind  a  stone  fence.  They 
were  checked  and  suffered  heavily,  but  finally  turned  the 
position  and  advanced  nearly  to  New  Rochelle,  where  they 
camped.  The  American  loss  in  this  affair,  protected  by  the 
stone  walls,  was  twenty-three  killed  and  wounded. 

It  was  a  dull  time  about  headquarters  at  the  Morris  house 
on  that  Friday  morning,  when  every  officer  on  the  staff  was  at 
the  front  more  than  seven  miles  away,  watching  the  battle. 
It  was  a  cloudy  and  windy  October  morning. 

Fryday,  Octr.  ye  i8th  1776.  Cloudy  and  windy.  All  our  regi- 
ment employed  in  getting  cannon  and  Mortars  over  to  the  Jer- 
seys likewise  in  getting  other  things  off  this  island.^ 

The  Adjutant-General  seems  to  have  left  behind  him  the 
draft  of  a  letter  to  Colonel  Thomas,  which  was  copied  and 
signed  by  a  clerk  in  the  oflSce,  who  appears  to  have  been  the 
ranking  official  at  headquarters,  and  the  person  left  in  charge 
of  the  house.  It  was  a  proud  day  for  "Charles  Knowles, 
Clerk,"  much  prouder  than  he  thought,  for  by  the  simple  act 
of  signing  that  letter  he  handed  his  name  down  through  the 
ages :  "  For  the  Adj't  Genl.  Your  h'ble  Servt.,  Charles  Knowles, 
Clerk."  The  chances  are  that  between  periods  of  listening  to 
the  distant  musketry,  Charles  Knowles,  Clerk,  busied  him- 
self packing  up  the  papers  of  the  Adjutant-General's  office. 

It 

»  Nash. 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


8s 


It  was  high  time  to  be  moving.  General  Washington  had  al- 
ready taken  the  field.  It  is  not  likely  that  General  Washington 
separated  himself  so  far  from  his  troops  that  night  as  to  return 
to  the  Morris  house.  Saturday,  the  19th,  was  certainly  mov- 
ing day  for  headquarters.  No  papers  were  issued  on  that  day, 
no  letters  written,  and  the  daily  General  Orders  consisted 
only  of  the  two  indispensable  words  to  be  used  for  parole  and 
countersign,  "Stamford"  and  "France."  By  evening  Gen- 
eral Washington  had  established  his  headquarters  in  his  tent, 
"Near  King's  Bridge."  General  Greene,  writing  to  Congress, 
on  Sunday,  the  20th,  says,  "I  was  at  Head  Quarters,  near 
King's  Bridge,  with  his  Excellency,  last  night." 

The  letter  to  Congress  on  the  20th  was  dated,  "King's 
Bridge,  Oct  20,  1776,  half  after  one  o'clock,  p.m."  It  was 
written  by  Harrison,  the  military  secretary.  ".  .  .  His  Excel- 
lency would  have  wrote  himself,  but  was  going  to  our  several 
posts  when  the  express  arrived."  The  peculiar  date  was  an 
official  notice  to  Congress  of  the  change  of  headquarters  from 
the  Morris  house  to  "King's  Bridge,"  the  previous  letter  to 
Congress  having  been  sent  from  "Harlem  Heights,"  October 
18,  before  hurrying  to  the  front.  General  Washington's  letter 
to  Congress  on  September  16  was  the  first  official  paper  from 
the  new  headquarters,  and  its  heading  was  very  definite  in- 
formation to  Congress:  "Head  Quarters  at  Colonel  Morris's 
house." 

"Head  Quarters,  Harlem  Heights,"  was  adopted  by  the 
Adjutant-General's  office  as  early  as  the  19th  of  September, 
but  General  Washington  continued  to  date  his  personal  let- 
ters a  little  longer  from  the  "Morris  house,"  notably  when 
the  date  was  pertinent  information.  These  dates  are  inter- 
esting as  showing  definitely  when  headquarters  left  the  Morris 
house.  The  fact  that  no  papers  issued  from  headquarters  on 
the  19th  shows  that  headquarters  was  in  the  baggage  wagons 
moving  from  "Colonel  Morris's  house"  to  "Near  King's 
Bridge,"  where  General  Greene  found  it  that  night. 

Tilghman  writes  to  Duer:  — 

Head  Quarters  King's  Bridge  20th  October  1776. 
.  .  .  We  have  been  so  much  upon  the  move  for  some  days  past 
that  I  had  it  not  in  my  power  to  sit  down  to  write  before. 

On 


Moving  day  for 
headquarters 


Notice  to 
Congress  of 
change 


Headquarters 
in  the  baggage 
wagons 


86 


Account  of 
Colonel  Rufus 
Putnam 


I  called  for  some 
oats  for  my  horse 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Providence 
conducted  me 


On  the  morning  of  the  20th,  which  was  Sunday,  Washing- 
ton sent  his  adjutant-general,  Joseph  Reed,  and  his  chief 
engineer,  Rufus  Putnam,  from  King's  Bridge  to  reconnoiter 
the  enemy's  position.  The  two  officers  were  mounted  and  had 
an  escort  of  twenty  infantrymen.  Colonel  Putnam  says  in  his 
"Memoirs":  — 

.  .  .  when  we  arrived  on  the  heights  of  East  Chester  we  saw 
a  small  body  of  British  near  the  church,  but  we  could  obtain  no 
intelligence;  the  houses  were  deserted.  Colo.  Reed  now  told  me 
he  must  return  to  attend  to  issuing  general  orders.  I  observed 
that  we  had  made  no  discovery  yet  of  any  consequence,  that  if 
he  went  back  I  wished  him  to  take  the  guard  back  for  I  chose  to 
go  alone.  I  then  disguised  my  appearance  as  an  officer  as  far  as 
I  could,  and  set  out  on  the  road  to  White  Plains;  however  I  did 
not  then  know  where  White  Plains  was  nor  where  the  road  I  had 
taken  would  carry  me.  I  had  gone  about  two  and  a  half  miles 
when  a  road  turned  off  to  the  right,  I  followed  it  perhaps  half  a 
mile  and  came  to  a  house  where  I  learned  from  the  woman  that 
this  road  led  to  New  Rochelle,  that  the  British  were  there  and 
that  they  had  a  guard  at  a  house  in  sight;  On  this  information  I 
turned  and  pursued  my  route  towards  White  Plains  (the  houses 
on  the  way  all  deserted)  until  I  came  within  three  or  four  miles 
of  the  place;  here  I  discovered  a  house  a  little  ahead  with  men 
about  it.  By  my  glass  I  found  they  were  not  British  soldiers; 
however  I  approached  them  with  caution.  I  called  for  some  oats 
for  my  horse,  sat  down  and  heard  them  chat  some  little  time, 
when  I  found  they  were  friends  to  America,  and  then  began  to 
make  the  necessary  enquiries,  and  on  the  whole  I  found  that  the 
main  body  of  the  British  lay  near  New  Rochelle,  from  thence  to 
White  Plains  about  nine  miles,  good  roads  and  in  general  level 
open  country,  that  at  White  Plains  was  a  large  quantity  of  stores, 
with  only  about  300  militia  to  guard  them,  that  the  British  had 
a  detachment  at  Mamaroneck  only  six  miles  from  White-Plains, 
and  from  White  plains  only  five  miles,  to  the  North  river,  where 
lay  five  or  six  of  the  enemies  ships  and  sloops,  tenders,  etc.  Hav- 
ing made  these  discoveries  I  set  out  on  my  return.  The  road  from 
Ward's  across  the  Brunx  was  my  intended  route  unless  I  found 
the  British  there,  which  haply  they  were  not,  but  I  saw  Americans 
on  the  heights  west  of  the  Brunx  who  had  arrived  there  after  I 
passed  up.  I  found  them  to  be  Lord  Stirling's  division;  it  was  now 
after  sunset,  I  gave  my  Lord  a  short  account  of  my  discoveries, 
took  refreshment  and  set  off  for  headquarters  by  the  way  of 
Philip's  at  the  mouth  of  Saw  Mill  river,  a  road  I  had  never  trav- 
elled, among  tory  inhabitants  and  in  the  night.  I  dare  not  en- 
quire the  way,  but  Providence  conducted  me.  I  arrived  at  head- 
quarters near  Kingsbridge  (a  distance  of  about  ten  miles)  about 

nine 


Events  from  Day  to  Day 


87 


nine  o'clock  at  night.  I  found  the  General  alone.  I  reported  to 
him  the  discoveries  I  had  made,  with  a  sketch  of  the  country. 

I  had  but  a  short  time  to  refresh  myself  and  horse  when  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  the  General  with  orders  to  proceed  imme- 
diately to  Lord  Stirling's,  and  I  arrived  at  his  quarters  about  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  October  2ist  1776. 

When  I  parted  with  Colo.  Reed  on  the  20th  as  before  mentioned, 
I  have  always  thought  that  I  was  moved  to  so  hazardous  an  un- 
dertaking by  foreign  influence.  On  my  route  I  was  liable  to  meet 
with  some  British  or  tory  parties,  who  probably  would  have 
made  me  a  prisoner  (as  I  had  no  knowledge  of  any  way  of  escape 
across  the  Brunx  but  the  one  I  came  out).  Hence  I  was  induced 
to  disguise  myself  by  taking  out  my  cockade,  loping  my  hat  and 
secreting  my  sword  and  pistols  under  my  loose  coat,  and  then 
had  I  been  taken  under  this  disguise,  the  probability  is  that  I 
should  have  been  hanged  as  a  spy. 

On  the  morning  of  the  21st,  following  Colonel  Putnam's 
reconnoissance.  General  Washington  crossed  the  Harlem  River 
and  pushed  his  army  forward  toward  White  Plains. 


I  found  the 
general  alone 


The  start  for 
White  Plains 


88 


^w 


Something 
interesting  to 
learn 


Frederick 
Philipse  sent 
prisoner  to 
Middleton, 
Connecticut 


Morris  house 

occupied  by 

officers 

of  General 

Heath's  picket 


CHAPTER    VII 

EARLY   MILITARY  OCCUPATION 

H 

IT  is  interesting  to  learn  that  the  Roger  Morris  house  had 
been  occupied  for  military  purposes  before  it  was  taken 
by  General  Washington  for  headquarters,  as  showing 
that  he  was  not  put  to  the  ungallant  necessity  of  asking 
a  lady,  for  whom  he  must  have  cherished  some  tender  memo- 
ries, to  vacate  her  house  for  his  use. 

The  construction  of  Fort  Washington  and  the  sinking  of 
ships  to  obstruct  the  navigation  of  the  Hudson  River  were 
operations  guarded  as  much  as  possible  from  the  knowledge 
of  the  enemy.  The  material  for  the  work  was  supplied  by  a 
secret  committee  of  the  Convention.  Tory  neighbors  were 
not  wanted.  Frederick  Philipse  was  arrested  at  his  house  in 
Yonkers,  by  order  of  General  Washington  as  early  as  the  9th 
of  August,  and  sent  a  prisoner  to  Middletown,  Connecticut. 
It  is  probable  that  Mrs.  Morris,  if  she  had  occupied  her  house 
at  all  in  the  early  summer  of  that  year,  left  it  at  the  time  her 
brother  was  arrested  and  joined  her  sister  in  the  old  manor 
house  at  Yonkers.  Mrs.  Morris  was  alone  with  her  children. 
Colonel  Morris  having  been  for  more  than  a  year  in  England. 
The  two  women,  deprived  of  the  protection  of  their  husbands, 
would  naturally  be  drawn  together  at  the  old  home,  which 
was  outside  the  lines  of  the  army  and  safe  from  the  annoyance 
of  the  camps. 

For  a  short  time  before  the  arrival  of  General  Washington 
the  Morris  house  was  used  by  General  Heath  as  a  station 
where  the  officers  of  his  picket  made  their  quarters.  General 
Heath  had  taken  command  at  King's  Bridge  as  early  as  the 
17th  of  August,  and  on  the  5th  of  September,  nine  days  before 
the  house  was  occupied  by  General  Washington,  he  estab- 
lished a  picket  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  men  along  the  East 

River 


Early  Military  Occupation 


89 


River  front  from  the  city  of  New  York  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Harlem  River  and  from  there  along  the  Westchester  shore  to 
Frog's  Neck. 

This  picket  was  to  watch  for  the  first  sign  of  a  landing  of  the 
enemy,  which  was  an  event  daily  expected.  Montresor's  Island 
(now  Randall's)  lay  just  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Harlem  and 
close  to  the  Westchester  shore.  This  island  was  already  in 
the  possession  of  the  British,  the  enemy's  pickets  facing  the 
pickets  of  General  Heath,  the  former  walking  the  shore  of  the 
island  and  the  latter  the  shore  of  the  mainland,  and  within 
speaking  distance  of  each  other.  One  day  picket-firing  broke 
out  at  this  danger-point  with  the  result  that  a  British  officer 
was  wounded.    General  Heath  relates  in  his  "Memoirs":  — 

An  officer  with  a  flag  soon  came  down  to  the  creek,  and  called 
for  the  American  officer  of  the  picket,  and  informed  him,  that  if 
the  American  sentinels  fired  any  more,  the  commanding  officer 
on  the  island  would  cannonade  Col.  Morris's  house,  in  which  the 
officers  of  the  picket  quartered.  The  American  officer  immedi- 
ately sent  up  to  our  General  [Heath]  to  know  what  answer  should 
be  returned.  He  was  directed  to  inform  the  British  officer,that 
the  American  sentinels  had  always  been  instructed  not  to  fire 
on  sentinels,  unless  they  were  first  fired  upon,  and  then  to  return 
the  fire;  that  such  would  be  their  conduct;  as  to  the  cannonading 
of  Col.  Morris's  house,  they  might  act  their  pleasure. 

"Col.  Morris's  house,  in  which  the  officers  of  the  picket 
quartered,"  loomed  white  among  the  green  trees,  quite  the 
most  conspicuous  object  on  the  high  ground  to  the  north.  It 
was  plainly  visible  to  the  officer  who  threatened  to  cannonade 
it,  but  the  house  was  a  little  more  than  two  miles  from  Mon- 
tresor's Island.  General  Heath  may,  or  may  not,  have  known 
that  there  were  ship's  guns  mounted  on  the  island. 

The  threat  of  the  officer  to  "cannonade  Colonel  Morris's 
house"  had  been  familiar  to  the  writer  for  several  years  and 
had  been  regarded  as  a  rather  bombastic  threat,  or  as  referring 
to  some  other  house,  until  the  recent  discovery  of  a  letter  from 
an  officer.  Major  C.  L.  Bauermeister,  of  the  Hessian  division, 
which  was  encamped  at  Hell  Gate,  just  back  of  Montresor's 
Island.  On  the  24th  of  September  he  writes :  — 

Before  Helgatte  2  frigates  lay  at  anchor;  la  Brune  and  Niger, 
both  of  32  guns,  with  a  bombarding  vessel,  and  on  terra  firma, 

just 


Montresor's 
Island  in 
possession  of  the 
British 


Threat  to 
cannonade 
Colonel  Morris's 
house 


Major 

Bauermeister 

encamped 

at  "  Helgatte  ' 


90 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Governor^! 
Island  called  on 
for  information 


A  convenient 
halfway  post 


General  Mifflin 
at  Colonel 
Morris's  house 


just  to  the  left  side  of  these  vessels,  a  battery  was  erected  of  2 
24  pounders,  212  pounders  and  2  howitzers. 

The  presence  of  twenty-four-pounders  on  the  island  was 
an  interesting  discovery,  and  Governor's  Island  was  promptly 
called  up  by  telephone  to  learn  the  extreme  range  of  a  twenty- 
four-pounder  at  that  time.  "After  consulting  the  books,"  the 
reply  came  that  a  twenty-four-pounder  of  that  period,  with  a 
double  charge  of  powder  and  an  elevation  of  forty-five  de- 
grees, could  throw  a  ball  a  little  over  two  miles. 

The  officer  who  made  the  threat  was  evidently  proud  of  his 
newly  established  battery,  and  General  Heath's  reply,  that 
"As  to  the  cannonading  of  Col.  Morris's  house,  they  might 
act  their  pleasure,"  expressed  his  indifference  to  such  long- 
range  firing. 

There  can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  about  what  house  the 
officer  referred  to,  or  where  the  officers  of  General  Heath's 
picket  made  their  headquarters.  Colonel  Morris's  house, 
standing  on  its  sightly  position  at  just  the  proper  distance 
back  from  the  middle  of  a  picket  line  nearly  ten  miles  long, 
was  ideally  located  for  such  a  purpose.  Moreover,  it  was  a 
convenient  halfway  post  between  General  Heath's  division,  en- 
camped above  King's  Bridge,  and  the  picket  line  at  the  front, 
and  the  river  was  the  natural  road  between  the  two  points. 
The  large  bodies  of  troops  periodically  required  to  relieve  the 
pickets,  evidently  went  by  whale-boats  from  King's  Bridge 
down  the  river,  reporting  to  the  officers  at  Colonel  Morris's 
as  they  arrived,  and  as  the  boats  neared  the  mouth  of  the  river 
the  men  could  be  landed  on  either  shore  as  required. 

The  quarters  of  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  pickets,  would 
be  the  point  where  the  first  news  of  the  enemy's  landing  would 
come,  and  the  following  letter  from  General  Mifflin  to  Gen- 
eral Heath  shows  that  General  Mifflin  was  waiting  at  Colonel 
Morris's  house  on  September  10  for  just  such  information:  — 

Mount  Washington  Sept.  10.  1776. 
Dear  General  Heath:  The  enemy  are  making  dispositions 
to  land  at  Harlem.  They  will  probably  attempt  Frog's  Point  at 
the  same  time  in  which  their  landing  may  be  urged  at  Harlem. 
That  consideration  has  induced  General  Washington  to  order 
me  to  remain  at  Colonel  Morris's  and  upon  the  first  intelligence 
of  the  enemy  moving  towards  Harlem,  to  order  one  thousand 

men 


British  Map  showing  Movement  to  White  Plains 


.  /   f*I..t.V   «■»/■   TilK 

Orrn\ii(»\N  ofiL-  fCixiis  \RMV 
t-f  \mii  s-n//u.tu  /Ami/;A// 


i;  \s  I    Ni;\v  Ji:rsi;v. 


Early  Military  Occupation 


91 


men  to  join  me  at  Morris's  from  Mount  Washington,  and  with 
them  and  the  Maryland  troops,  march  to  the  assistance  of  our 
friends  at  Harlem.  I  have  therefore  ordered  Colonels  Cortlandt, 
Martin,  Newcomb  and  Furman,  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  join  me  at  Colonel  Morris's,  Colonels  Hutchinson  and  Philips 
to  remain  at  Mount  Washington  as  a  garrison. 

If  a  landing  is  attempted  at  Frog's  Point  and  no  danger  ap- 
pears of  an  attempt  at  Harlem,  I  am  to  join  you  with  three  bat- 
talions from  Mount  Washington  and  all  the  Marylanders.  For 
that  purpose  I  have  ordered  several  boats  to  be  ready  near  Colonel 
Morris's  to  carry  our  men  over  to  the  Heights  of  Harlem,  (.'') 
which  will  save  us  much  time. 

The  General  expects  you  to  prepare  for  a  brunt  on  the  side  of 
Frog's  Point,  or  he  expects  one  at  Harlem.  I  told  him  your  dis- 
position was  made  and  you  all  ready. 

I  am  with  respect,  your  obedient,  humble  servant, 

Thomas  Mifflin. 

How  much  or  how  little  furniture  remained  in  the  house 
when  General  Washington  occupied  it  is  a  question  for  some 
interesting  speculation.  The  circumstance  that  it  was  not 
possible  to  hold  the  regular  courts  martial  of  the  line  at  head- 
quarters until  the  23d  of  September,  eight  days  after  the  arri- 
val of  the  staff,  would  suggest  that  the  great  drawing-room 
was  in  use  as  a  storage-room  for  such  furniture  as  the  officers 
of  the  pickets  had  no  need  of.  General  Washington  may  have 
found  this  condition  on  his  arrival,  and  he  may  have  cleared 
the  room  for  his  needs  by  sending  the  surplus  furniture  to  the 
manor  house,  or  by  storing  it  elsewhere. 

It  is  certain  that  General  Washington  maintained  the  pleas- 
antest  relations  with  the  family  at  Yonkers,  notwithstanding 
the  imprisonment  of  Colonel  Philipse.  Samuel  Blatchley 
Webb,  in  the  Adjutant-General's  office,  seems  to  have  been 
a  sort  of  inside  postmaster,  ranking  Ebenezer  Hazzard,  the 
postmaster  of  New  York,  who  followed  headquarters  on  foot. 
It  was  Webb  who  handled  and  forwarded  the  letters  between 
the  prisoner  at  Middletown  and  the  family  at  Yonkers.  It 
may  have  been  his  duty  to  read  and  even  censor  some  of  this 
correspondence,  but  if  so  the  hard  duty  must  have  been  very 
graciously  done.  The  following  letter  shows  the  attitude  of 
Mrs.  Philipse  to  Colonel  Webb  and  to  General  Washington. 
The  letter  bears  no  date :  — 

Philipsborough, 


Boats  to  ht  ready 
near  Colonel 
Morris's 


Furniture  when 
General  Wash- 
ington occupied 
the  house 


Pleasant  rela- 
tions with  the 
family  at 
Yonkers 


92 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Mrs. ^'■Phillips" 
to'-^ Collar  Webb 


Evidence  of  the 
change  ofPhilipse 
to  Phillips 


Frederick 
Philipse  at 
Middle  town 


Philipsborough,  Monday. 
Mrs.  Phillips  Compliments  and  thanks  Collo.  Webb  for  his 
Polite  Note  of  Yesterday,  &  the  very  Acceptable  pacquet  from 
Middletown.  Mrs  Phillips  acknowledges  herself  much  obliged 
to  Collo.  Webb  for  his  attention  in  forwarding  her  letters,  &  is 
much  indebted  to  his  goodness  for  the  early  recept  of  them.  Mrs 
Phillips  begs  her  compliments  to  Collo.  Webb  with  many  thanks 
for  her  letter  from  Miss  Van  Home  and  his  punctuality  in  en- 
closing the  one  sent  to  Mrs.  Van  Home:  she  shall  on  Wednesday 
again  take  the  liberty  of  troubling  Collo.  Webb.  —  Mrs.  Phillips 
has  by  Mrs.  Pintard  sent  another  letter  to  Collo.  Webb's  care  — 
She  begs  her  compliments  to  General  Washington.^ 

This  letter  shows  that  the  original  spelling  of  the  family 
name,  Philipse,  had  been  changed,  and  was  then  Phillips,  as 
written  in  this  case  by  Mrs.  Phillips.  Evidence  of  the  same 
change  of  spelling  appears  in  most  Revolutionary  documents 
in  which  the  name  of  this  family  appears.  In  the  marriage 
settlement,  an  old-fashioned  deed  of  great  length,^  which  was 
written  eighteen  years  before  Mrs.  Philipse's  letter  to  Webb, 
the  name  appears  in  every  instance  as  Phillips,  with  two  U's 
and  the  final  e  dropped.  In  fact  the  old  spelling  was  obsolete 
and  the  family  had  adopted  the  familiar  spelling  of  the  Ameri- 
can surname,  as  many  another  humbler  family  has  since  done. 
The  old  spelling  has  been  cleverly  revived  by  descendants, 
justly  proud  of  their  colonial  descent  from  one  of  the  great 
manorial  families,  knowing  that  it  will  be  more  convincing 
than  a  coat  of  arms. 

The  detention  of  Frederick  Philipse  at  Middletown  contin- 
ued until  December  23,  1776,  when  he  was  released  by  Gover- 
nor Trumbull.  While  a  prisoner  he  was  at  large  on  his  parole 
and  subsisted  at  his  own  expense.  In  his  memorial  to  Wash- 
ington, praying  for  release,  he  describes  himself  as  an  old  man 
in  poor  health  separated  from  his  wife,  etc.  Mrs.  Morris  was 
living  at  the  manor  house  on  the  21st  of  October,  for  on  that 
date  Washington,  in  replying  to  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Philipse, 
in  which  she  complained  that  the  soldiers  were  driving  off  her 
stock,  added  a  postscript  in  which  he  presented  his  compli- 
ments to  Mrs.  Morris.   This  reference  to  Mrs.  Morris  may 

have 

'  Correspondence  and  Journal  of  Samuel  Blatchley  Webb. 
'  See  Appendix  B. 


Early  Military  Occupation 


93 


have  been  added  to  the  original  letter  at  the  last  moment,  as 
it  does  not  appear  in  the  official  copy. 
Washington's  letter,  as  published  by  Ford,  reads :  — 

Head  Quarters  at  Mr.  Valentine's. 
22d  October,  1776. 

Madam, 

The  misfortunes  of  War,  and  the  unhappy  circumstances  fre- 
quently attendant  thereon  to  individuals  are  more  to  be  lamented 
than  avoided,  but  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one,  to  alleviate  them 
as  much  as  possible;  Far  be  it  from  me  to  add  to  the  distress  of  a 
Lady,  who  I  am  but  too  sensible,  has  suffered  much  uneasiness 
if  not  inconvenience,  on  account  of  Colonel  Philipse's  absence. 
No  special  order  has  gone  from  me  for  the  removal  of  the  Stock 
belonging  to  the  inhabitants,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
and  in  consequence  of  a  resolution  from  the  Convention  of  the 
State,  the  measure  has  been  adopted.  However  as  I  am  satisfied 
it  is  not  meant  to  deprive  Families  of  their  necessary  support, 
I  shall  not  withhold  my  consent  to  your  retaining  such  part  of 
your  Stock  as  may  be  essential  to  the  purpose,  relying  on  your 
assurance  and  promise  that  no  more  will  be  detained. 

With  great  respect, 

I  am.  Madam,  &c  — 

Mrs.  Amherst  Morris,  in  publishing  this  letter  in  the  "  Hert- 
fordshire Magazine,"  omits  date  and  address  and  the  first 
sentence  of  the  letter,  and  continues  the  signature  from  where 
Ford  ends. 

Your  obedient  servant 

G.  Washington 
I  beg  the  favor  of  having  my  compliments  presented  to  Mrs. 
Morris. 

This  letter  was  taken  to  England  by  Mrs.  Philipse,  and  of 
it  Mrs.  Morris  writes :  — 

A  copy  of  Washington's  letter  to  Mrs  Philipse  was  given  me 
by  my  husband's  uncle,  Mr.  Frederick  Philipse  Morris,  now  dead. 
I  do  not  know  where  the  original  is,  but  it  was  given  by  Mrs. 
Philipse  when  residing  at  Bath,  to  a  gentleman  called  Hastings 
Elwyn  and  he  was  said  to  have  presented  it  to  the  Literary  In- 
stitute. I  asked  my  brother  to  make  inquiries  respecting  it,  at 
the  Institute.  It  may  have  been  sold  or  Lost,  but  Mr.  F.  P.  Mor- 
ris's own  copy  was  from  the  original  letter. 

General  Washington  would  hardly  have  expressed  any  sen- 
timent in  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Philipse  before  the  official  copy 
had  been  made.  To  add  such  an  expression  of  politeness  to  his 

original 


Washington's 
letter  to  Mrs. 
Philipse 


The  postscript 


Explanation  of 
Mrs.  Amherst 
Morris 


94 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Stephen  KembU 
breakfasts  with 
Mrs.  Philipse 
and  Mrs.  Morris 


original  letter  after  it  returned  to  his  hand  gives  the  message 
the  distinction  of  privacy,  and  it  is  just  what  General  Wash- 
ington might  be  expected  to  do. 

This  was  on  the  22d  of  October.  Mrs.  Morris  was  still  at 
the  manor  house  on  the  8th  of  November,  a  >week  before  the 
capture  of  Fort  Washington.  General  Howe's  headquarters 
on  that  date  was  near  Philipsborough,  and  Stephen  Kemble, 
his  Adjutant-General,  seems  to  have  breakfasted  on  the 
morning  of  the  8th  with  the  ladies  at  the  manor.  He  does  not 
mention  the  presence  of  any  other  officer  at  the  breakfast 
table  and  we  are  left  to  infer  that  he  was  the  exclusive  guest. 
Stephen  Kemble  says  in  his  diary,  "Had  the  pleasure  of 
Breakfasting,  this  day  with  Mrs.  Philipse  and  Mrs.  Morris 
All  well." 


CHAPTER    VIII 


COURTS    MARTIAL 


THE  proceedings  of  the  various  courts  martial,  that 
sat  from  time  to  time  in  the  great  octagon  parlor 
at  headquarters,  with  their  human  interest  and  pic- 
turesque detail,  bring  one  into  closer  touch  with 
events  in  and  about  the  old  house  than  do  any  other  military 
papers.  The  room  itself,  thirty  feet  long  by  twenty  feet  wide, 
with  the  corners  clipped  off,  has  six  great  windows,  and  through 
its  double  doors  forms  a  dignified  extension  of  the  main  hall, 
nearly  as  wide.  If  the  Judge  Advocate  looked  up  from  his 
writing,  his  eyes  rested  on  panels  of  cool  green  colonial  paper 
bordered  with  morning-glories  that  must  have  been  the  pride 
of  Mrs.  Morris.  It  was  lined  with  buckram  hung  from  the 
cornice,  real  paper-hanging,  and  quite  unfit  for  the  rough  con- 
tact of  soldiers  on  trial. 

This  courtroom  was  linked  to  the  house  by  a  narrower  hall 
entered  by  two  outside  doors,  facing  each  other,  so  that  the 
officers  of  the  court  could  establish  their  own  guards  just  as 
if  they  were  in  a  separate  building.  The  nearest  room  on 
the  main  hall  was  used  as  a  guardroom,  where  the  prisoners 
awaited  trial. 

During  his  stay  on  Harlem  Heights  General  Washington 
ordered  four  courts  martial  formed.  They  were  known  as  the 
"Magaw,"  the  "Beal,"  the  "Weedon,"  and  the  "Ewing," 
courts  martial.  The  "Comfort  Sage"  court  martial,  which 
tried  the  culprit  Leffingwell,  had  been  formed,  and  had  held 
earlier  sessions  in  New  York.  The  "Comfort  Sage"  and  the 
"Beal"  courts  martial,  the  latter  created  for  a  special  trial 
during  the  term  of  the  Magaw  court,  sat  at  the  White  house. 
The  others  and  two  courts  of  inquiry  sat  at  headquarters. 
From  September  23  until  the  Morris  house  was  abandoned  as 

headquarters. 


95 


The  court- 
martial  room 


The  four  courts 
martial 


96 


The  Magaw 
court  martial 


The  IVeedon 
court  martial 


Trial  of  a  soldier 
of  Hamilton's 
battery 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


headquarters,  a  court  martial,  fully  officered,  was  ready  to 
assemble  in  the  court-martial  room  whenever  there  were 
prisoners  to  be  tried. 

The  Magaw  court  martial  was  organized  on  September  23, 
and  dissolved  on  October  4.  It  held  court  in  the  Morris  house 
on  the  23d,  26th,  27th,  and  28th  of  September.  It  was  during 
the  period  of  this  court  martial  that  the  special  court  martial, 
of  which  General  Beal  was  president,  was  formed  to  try  Cap- 
tains Wisner  and  Scott  for  cowardice  at  the  attack  on  Montre- 
sor's  Island.  It  chanced  that  its  two  sessions,  on  September 
30  and  October  i,  were  held  on  days  when  the  court-martial 
room  at  headquarters  was  not  occupied  by  the  Magaw  court, 
but  this  could  not  be  foreseen,  and  shows  how  jealously  the 
court-martial  room  was  reserved  for  the  regular  sessions  of 
the  courts  martial  of  the  line. 

The  court  martial  of  which  Colonel  Weedon  was  president 
followed  the  Magaw  court  martial  from  October  5  to  October 
14.  It  sat  but  two  days,  October  7  and  9.  On  the  afternoons 
of  the  nth  and  12th,  the  two  courts  of  inquiry  were  held  in 
the  court-martial  room.  The  Weedon  court  martial  was  dis- 
solved on  the  14th  of  October  and  a  new  one  formed,  of  which 
Colonel  Ewing  was  president  and  which  sat  in  the  court-mar- 
tial room  on  the  15  th  and  i6th  of  October. 

On  the  27th  of  September  a  private  soldier  of  Alexander 
Hamilton's  battery  was  tried  in  the  court-martial  room,  and 
it  is  quite  likely  that  his  illustrious  captain  was  present  at  the 
trial.  The  precise  wording  of  the  official  record  in  this  short 
trial  may  be  of  interest :  — 

Proceedings  of  a  General  Court-Martial  of  the  Line  held  on  the 
Heights  of  Harlem  by  order  of  His  Excellency  George  Wash- 
ington, Esq.,  General  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces 
of  the  United  American  States,  for  the  trial  of  all  Prisoners 
brought  before  them,  September  27,  1776. 

Colonel  Weedon  President. 
Lieut.  Colonel  Chandler,         Captain  Brown, 


Lieut.  Colonel  Russell, 
Captain  Ledyard, 
Captain  Graydon, 
Captain  Wiley, 
Captain  Scott, 


Captain  Prentice, 
Captain  Chamberlain, 
Captain  Rogers, 
Captain  Foster, 
Captain  Stanley. 


Wm.  Tudor,  Judge  Advocate. 


The 


Courts  Martial 


97 


The  Court  proceeded  to  the  trial  of  William  Higgins,  of  Cap- 
tain Hamilton's  Company  of  Artillery,  brought  prisoner  before 
the  Court,  and  accused  of  "breaking  open  a  chest  and  stealing  a 
number  of  articles  out  of  it,  in  the  room  of  the  Provost  Guard." 

The  prisoner  being  arraigned  pleads  "Not  guilty."  Robert 
Wilson  says:  "A  person  came  into  a  room  where  I  was,  and  told 
me  that  some  men  up  in  the  Provost  Room  had  broke  open  a 
chest  and  were  plundering  it.  I  went  up  and  found  the  prisoner, 
Higgins,  with  another,  tucking  a  gown  and  cloak  into  his  bosom. 
I  took  them  away  from  him.  He  said  that  others  were  concerned 
as  well  as  him,  and  denied  that  he  broke  open  the  chest." 

Peter  Lynch  confirms  Wilson's  testimony. 

The  Court  are  of  opinion  that  the  prisoner  is  guilty  of  the  charge 
against  him,  and  sentence  him  to  be  whipped  thirty-nine  lashes 
on  his  bare  back  for  said  offence. 

G.  Weedon,  President. 

Whipping  for  minor  military  offenses  had  been  copied  from 
the  British  army,  or  rather  had  been  handed  down  from  Colo- 
nial times  when  everything  was  British.  The  stripes  were 
administered  by  the  musicians,  the  fifers  and  drummers,  and 
in  some  cases  it  is  likely  were  gently  put  on. 

On  August  27th,  — 

The  Court  being  duly  sworn  proceeded  to  the  trial  of  Sergeant 
George  Douglas,  of  Captain  Forbes's  Company,  in  General 
McDougal's  late  Regiment,  brought  prisoner  before  the  Court 
and  accused  of  mutinous  conduct  and  of  exciting  mutiny,  and 
also  of  speaking  disrespectfully  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  and 
of  the  General  Officers  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

The  prisoner,  being  arraigned  on  the  afforesaid  charge,  pleads 
"Not  Guilty." 

Ensign  Bonner  deposes:  "That  the  prisoner  was  confined  in 
the  quarter  guard  of  the  regiment  for  disobedience  of  orders, 
while  the  regiment  was  stationed  on  Harlem  Common.  I  was 
officer  of  the  guard  and  heard  the  prisoner  say  to  part  of  the 
guard  and  some  other  prisoners  who  were  confined  with  him 
that  the  Generals  had  sold  the  troops  on  Long  Island,  and  brought 
the  army  up  to  Harlem  to  sell  them  there." 

Captain  Forbes  deposes:  "In  the  morning  of  the  same  day 
which  Ensign  Bonner  mentions,  I  was  walking  near  the  quarter 
guard,  and  heard  someone  singing  'God  save  the  King.'  I  came 
up  to  the  person,  and  found  it  to  be  Sergeant  Douglas.  After 
he  had  finished  the  song  he  said:  he  was  his  King  and  he  would 
have  no  other  King,  which  we  should  soon  see.  This  he  said  to  a 
soldier  who  was  with  him.  The  prisoner  is  Sergeant  in  my  Com- 
pany, and  has  been  repeatedly  mutinous." 

The  Court  are  of  opinion  that  the  prisoner  is  guilty  of  mutinous 

speeches. 


IVilliam 
Higgins  found 
guilty 


Thirty-nine 
lashes  on  the 
bare  hack 


Trial  of 
Sergeant  George 
Douglas 


98 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General 
Washington 
makes  war  on 
plundering 


Knapsacks 
inspected  for 
plunder 


An  appeal  to 
Congress 


speeches,  and  speaking  disrespectfully  of  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
and  the  Court  sentence  the  prisoner  to  be  whipped  thirty-nine 
lashes  on  his  bare  back  for  said  offences. 

G.  Weedon,  President, 

General  Washington  made  persistent  and  relentless  war 
on  plundering,  a  practice  that  appealed  strongly  to  some  of 
his  New  England  soldiers.  Plunder  in  earlier  wars  had  long 
been  considered  a  perquisite  of  the  soldier's  profession  and  the 
indirect  part  of  his  pay.  When  the  British  were  accused  of 
plundering,  General  Howe  laid  it  to  the  Hessians,  whom  he 
claimed  it  was  impossible  to  restrain.  The  practice  seems  to 
have  begun  in  real  earnest  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  caused 
by  the  landing  of  the  British  and  the  retreat  to  Harlem  Heights. 
As  early  as  the  i8th  of  September,  Washington  directed,  in 
General  Orders,  that  every  officer  meeting  a  soldier  carrying 
plunder  should  take  him  to  the  "next  Brigadier,  or  Command- 
ing Officer  of  a  Regiment,  who  is  instantly  to  have  the  offender 
whipped  on  the  spot." 

On  September  22,  every  regiment  in  the  army  was  paraded 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  while  the  men  stood  in 
line,  the  field  officers  inspected  their  knapsacks  and  tents  for 
plunder.  Evidently  the  field  officers  had  some  success,  for  on 
the  following  day,  September  23,  General  Washington  repre- 
sented to  Congress  "the  absolute  necessity,  offorming  an  article 
against  plundering,  marauding,  and  burning  of  houses."  He 
writes :  — 

Every  hour  brings  the  most  distressing  complaints  of  the  rav- 
ages of  our  own  troops,  who  are  become  infinitely  more  formid- 
able to  the  poor  farmers  and  inhabitants  than  the  common  enemy. 
Horses  are  taken  out  of  the  Continental  teams;  the  baggage  of 
officers  and  the  hospital  stores;  even  the  quarters  of  General 
Officers  are  not  exempt  from  rapine.  Some  severe  and  exemplary 
punishment,  to  be  inflicted  in  a  summary  way,  must  be  immedi- 
ately administered,  or  the  army  will  be  totally  ruined.  I  must  beg 
the  immediate  attention  of  Congress  to  this  matter,  as  of  the  ut- 
most importance  to  our  existence  as  an  army. 

I  am,  sir,  with  due  respect,  your  most  obedient  and  very  hum- 
ble servant,  q^    Washington. 

The  Comfort  Sage  court  martial,  sitting  in  the  Roger  Morris 
farmhouse,  on  September  19,  leaves  the  following  record :  — 

The 


View  of  New  Xork  in  ij6i 


Courts  Martial 


99 


The  Court  being  duly  sworn,  proceeded  to  the  trial  of  Ensign 
Matthew  Macumber,  of  Captain  Barnes's  Company,  in  Colonel 
Sargent's  Regiment,  brought  prisoner  before  the  Court-Martial 
and  accused  of  plundering  and  robbery,  and  also  of  mutiny. 

The  prisoner,  being  arraigned  on  the  above  charge,  pleads 
"Not  Guilty." 

Major  Box:  "Last  Tuesday,  about  two  o'clock,  I  saw  a  number 
of  people  plundering  down  on  Harlem  Plain.  I  took  a  party  and 
went  down  on  the  plain,  and  met  Ensign  Macumber,  with  a 
party  of  upwards  of  twenty,  all  loaded  with  plunder,  such  as 
house  furniture,  table  linen,  and  kitchen  utensils,  China  and  delf 
ware.  I  ordered  him  to  lay  it  down,  or  carry  it  back  to  the  place 
he  took  it  from.  He  said  he  had  his  Colonel's  order  for  what  he 
had  done,  and  that  he  would  defend  the  plunder  as  long  as  he  had 
life.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  me,  and  told  him  who  I  was,  and 
told  him  how  express  the  General's  orders  were  about  plunder- 
ing. I  told  him  if  he  did  not  deliver  up  the  plunder,  I  should  fire 
upon  him,  and  jumped  over  a  fence,  and  my  little  party  followed. 
On  this  the  prisoner  and  his  party  surrounded  me,  and  the  pris- 
oner gave  orders  for  the  party  to  make  ready;  they  did  so,  and  told 
me  they  would  die  by  the  plunder,  and  Macumber,  the  prisoner 
declared  the  same.  When  I  found  I  could  do  nothing,  I  left  them 
and  went  up  and  got  a  party,  and  went  down.  The  prisoner  see- 
ing me  coming,  left  his  party  and  put  off  across  the  fields,  loaded 
with  something.  I  disarmed  the  party,  and  made  them  prisoners. 
The  prisoner  ordered  his  party  to  make  ready,  before  I  jumped 
over  the  fence." 

Sergeant  Thayer:  "I  was  one  of  the  party  with  Major  Box,  on 
Tuesday,  and  met  Ensign  Macumber,  as  has  been  related.  Major 
Box  told  the  prisoners'  party  to  lay  down  their  plunder;  they  all 
refused,  and  the  prisoner  said  that  he  had  obeyed  the  Colonel's 
orders,  and  that  he  would  carry  the  plunder  to  his  Colonel.  On 
Major  Box  presenting  his  pistol  at  the  Ensign,  he  ordered  the 
men  to  form  themselves.  The  men  were  clamorous,  and  the  En- 
sign was  quieting  them.  He  said  he  had  orders  from  his  Colonel, 
and  had  obeyed  them,  and  would  obey  them  to  the  spilling  his 
blood;  which  I  took  to  mean  that  he  would  defend  his  party  and 
the  plunder.  The  Major  went  off,  and  we  returned  soon  after; 
but  I  know  nothing  more  of  the  prisoner.  There  was  women's 
clothing  among  other  articles  of  plunder." 

William  Thomas:  Says  he  was  one  of  the  party,  and  confirmed 
Sergeant  Thayer's  testimony. 

Samuel  Brown:  Confirmed  Sergeant  Thayer's  testimony,  and 
adds  that  the  prisoner  told  Major  Box,  after  he  had  ordered  his 
men  to  form,  that  he  would  see  which  had  the  strongest  party, 
or  that  the  ground  should  drink  his  blood.  Several  of  his  men 
said  they  would  blow  out  Major  Box's  brains,  if  he  cocked  his 
pistol  again. 

William 


Trial  of  Ensign 

Matthew 

Macumber 


Testimony  of 
Major  Box 


Testimony  of 
Sergeant  Thayer 


Testimony  of 
Samuel  Brown 


lOO 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  prisoner  s 
defense 


General  Wash- 
ington's comment 


Trial  of 
Lieutenant  Pope 


William  Cornish:  Confirms  Brown's  testimony,  and  adds, 
that  from  every  appearance,  he  doubts  not  the  prisoner's  party 
would  have  fired  upon  them  had  they  attempted  to  have  rescued 
the  plunder  out  of  their  hands. 

Prisoner's  Defence. 

John  Petty:  "Just  before  we  entered  the  town  of  Harlem,  En- 
sign Macumber  stopped  the  party  and  expressly  ordered  us  not 
to  plunder.  I  was  posted  as  a  sentry,  and  know  nothing  of  the 
party  plundering.  I  was  one  who  drove  the  cattle  off,  and  did  not 
join  the  party  who  had  the  plunder." 

Gordon  Spencer:  "After  we  got  into  Harlem,  Ensign  Macom- 
ber  took  some  of  the  party  and  went  off  with  them.  After  he  was 
gone,  some  of  the  men  broke  into  the  house.  I  went  and  found  the 
Ensign,and  told  him  of  it.  He  said  it  was  against  his  orders,  and 
to  go  and  tell  them  to  leave  the  house.  Before  we  met  Major 
Box  Ensign  Macomber  had  told  the  men  they  should  carry  all 
the  plunder  to  Colonel  Sargent." 

The  Court  being  cleared,  after  mature  consideration  are  of 
opinion  that  the  prisoner  is  not  guilty  of  plundering  or  of  rob- 
bery, nor  of  mutiny,  but  that  he  is  guilty  of  offering  violence  to 
and  disobeying  Major  Box,  his  superior  officer.  And  the  Court 
sentence  and  adjudge  that  the  prisoner  ask  pardon  of  Major 
Box,  and  receive  a  severe  reprimand  from  the  commanding  offi- 
cer at  the  head  of  the  regiment  he  belongs  to. 

Comfort  Sage,  President. 

Note  by  General  Washington:  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
men  who  were  to  share  the  plunder,  became  the  evidence  for  the 
prisoner. 

G.  W. 

There  are  but  few  records  of  trial  by  court  martial  of  pri- 
vate soldiers  for  plundering,  that  official  ceremony  having 
been  reserved  for  officers.  The  soldiers  were  probably  whipped 
without  the  formality  of  a  trial.  The  following  case  shows  that 
an  officer  took  property  from  a  deserted  house  with,  prob- 
ably, the  intention  to  have  the  articles  preserved  for  the  owner, 
but  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  appropriate  some  of  the  plun- 
der:— 

October  15th.  The  Court  being  duly  sworn,  proceeded  to  the 
trial  of  Lieutenant  Pope,  of  the  Detachment  of  Rangers  com- 
manded by  Major  Coburn,  brought  prisoner  before  the  Court, 
and  accused  of  "plundering,  and  encouraging  the  men  under  his 
command  to  do  so,  by  sharing  the  plunder  with  them." 

The  prisoner  being  arraigned  on  the  above  charge,  pleads  "Not 
Guilty." 

John 


Courts  Martial 


lOI 


John  Bushing:  "My  house  is  down  by  the  eight-mile  stone.  The 
day  after  the  army  had  retreated  from  York  I  left  the  house  and 
left  most  of  our  articles  in  the  house.  I  heard  that  the  Rangers 
had  a  number  of  things,  and  applied  to  Lieutenant  Pope  to  get 
them.  Pope  appeared  to  be  quite  willing  to  have  the  men  searched. 
I  found  an  old  chest,  twenty  pounds  yarn,  a  pot,  an  axe,  and  two 
or  three  trifles,  in  the  quarters  of  the  men.  I  took  them  away 
without  opposition.  Lieutenant  Pope  told  me  he  had  taken  away 
a  gun  out  of  the  house,  but  told  me  I  should  not  have  it  unless 
I  gave  him  five  dollars,  or  gave  an  order  for  it  from  the  General. 
I  accordingly  got  an  order,  and  then  Lieutenant  Pope  told  me  he 
had  sent  the  gun  beyond  King's  Bridge,  and  gave  me  an  order 
to  get  It.  Lieutenant  Pope  appeared  quite  willing  to  have  me  take 
away  every  thing  I  found  except  the  gun,  which  he  made  no  diffi- 
culty about  after  I  had  the  General's  order." 

George  Wilson:  "I  was  one  of  the  party  that  went  into  Mr. 
Bushing's  house;  and  it  lying  very  near  the  enemy,  and  being  de- 
serted we  though  it  best  to  take  away  what  things  we  could,  and 
save  them  for  the  owners.  What  we  brought  off  were  immedi- 
ately delivered  up  to  the  qillkrter-guard." 

Captain  Holmes:  "Lieutenant  Pope  informed  me  that  our  sen- 
tries had  drove  off  the  enemy  from  Mr.  Bushing's  house,  and  that 
as  there  was  a  number  of  articles,  Lieutenant  Pope  proposed  that 
a  party  should  go  and  fetch  them  off  and  save  them  for  the  own- 
ers or  the  continent.  When  the  things  were  brought  up.  Lieu- 
tenant Pope  desired  the  officers  to  go  over  and  take  an  inven- 
tory of  them.  We  accordingly  did,  and  Lieutenant  Pope  bid 
the  men  deliver  everything  up,  that  they  might  be  inventoried: 
after  they  were  so,  they  were  put  under  the  quarter-guard,  and 
the  next  day  they  were  sent  to  headquarters.  Lieutenant  Pope 
showed  me  a  gun  and  said  he  thought  that  was  his  property." 

Sergeant  Hempstead:  "The  night  after  the  party  returned  from 
Bushing's  house,  with  the  things.  Corporal  Wilson  had  a  coat  and 
jacket  and  gave  them  to  Lieutenant  Pope,  who  gave  him  five  dol- 
lars. Wilson  said  he  had  rather  keep  the  coat  and  jacket  himself." 

Adjutant  Fosdick:  Was  present  and  confirms  Sergeant  Hemp- 
stead's deposition,  and  adds  that  he  saw  Lieutenant  Pope  throw 
the  coat  and  jacket  across  his  arm. 

The  prisoner  admits  that  he  bought  the  coat  of  Wilson,  but 
denies  that  he  knew  it  to  be  plunder. 

The  prisoner  produces  no  witnesses. 

The  Court  are  of  opinion  that  the  prisoner  is  guilty  of  coniving 
at  plundering  and  the  Court  sentence  the  prisoner  to  be  cashiered 
for  said  offence  and  he  is  accordingly  hereby  cashiered. 

Thomas  Ewing,  President. 


Evidence  of 
'John  Bushing 


Of  George 

PFilson 


Of  Captain 
Holmes 


Of  Sergeant 
Hempstead 


Of  Adjutant 
Fosdick 


I02 


The  post-riders 
leaving  Morris 
house 


Orderlies 
limited 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE   CONVENTION 

WHILE  General  Washington  occupied  the  Roger 
Morris  house  for  his  headquarters,  every  rising 
sun,  if,  indeed,  the  sun  were  a  sufficiently  early 
riser,  saw  the  post-riders  trotting  out  from  the 
great  gates  on  the  road  to  Fishkill  or  Philadelphia.  If  it  hap- 
pened that  these  horsemen  started  a  little  earlier  than  usual, 
the  sun  was  sure  to  overtake  them  on  the  King's  Bridge 
Road,  or  crossing  the  ferry  for  the  ride  through  the  Jerseys. 
Every  morning  either  Jacob  Odell  or  Uriah  Mitchel  started 
for  the  Convention  at  Fishkill,  after  receiving  the  letters  from 
Ebenezer  Hazzard,  the  postmaster.  The  post-rider  carrying 
the  dispatches  to  Congress  over  the  first  stage  of  the  road  to 
Philadelphia  was  not  always  in  the  saddle  so  early,  and,  in- 
deed, on  some  days  did  not  leave  headquarters  at  all. 

The  troopers  acting  as  mounted  orderlies  and  messengers 
at  headquarters,  while  Washington  was  at  the  Morris  house, 
were  limited  in  number  to  the  barest  needs  of  the  staff.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that  General  Washington,  in  his  rides  about 
the  camps  with  Tilghman  or  others  of  the  staff,  dispensed 
with  an  orderly  altogether,  and  was  followed  by  a  negro 
groom  on  one  of  his  own  Virginia  horses.  French  engrav- 
ings of  that  period  represent  both  Washington  and  Lafayette 
attended  by  colored  servants  holding  their  chargers.  Such 
troopers  as  there  were  were  sent  by  General  Heath  from 
Major  Backus's  Connecticut  cavalry.  On  October  2,  General 
Heath  wrote  to  Major  Backus,  "You  may  relieve  the  horse- 
men at  General  Washington's  as  often  as  you  may  think 
proper,  with  the  like  number  now  posted  there."  On  Septem- 
ber 21,  in  assigning  Major  Backus's  command  to  various  posts 
for  duty,  General  Heath  had  ordered  "six  or  seven  troopers 

to 


The  Convention 


to  his  Excellency  General  Washington's  quarters,  and  about 
the  same  number  somewhere  in  this  neighborhood  if  you  can 
find  quarters  for  them."  General  Heath  seems  to  have  been 
ambitious  to  have  as  many  troopers  at  his  own  headquarters 
as  he  was  sending  to  General  Washington,  but  he  feels  his  way 
to  that  end,  ordering  them  to  "somewhere  in  this  neighbor- 
hood," and  that  only  "  if  you  can  find  quarters  for  them." 

Now  this  battalion  of  cavalry  was  made  up  of  citizens  who 
owned  their  own  horses.  It  was  a  rather  select  organization, 
and  the  Connecticut  Council  of  Safety,  "in  providing  for 
their  support,"  name  them  as  "the  gentlemen  of  the  Horse." 
Major  Backus  came  to  General  Washington  with  a  letter  of 
introduction  from  Governor  Trumbull.  The  seven  troopers 
provided  to  General  Washington  must  have  consisted  of  six 
privates  and  that  officer  whom  Colonel  Reed  saw  shaving  one 
of  his  men. 

The  Convention,  or  Provincial  Congress  of  the  new  State 
of  New  York,  for  which  the  post-rider  left  headquarters  at 
sunrise,  was  sitting  at  Fishkill.  The  Convention  was  made  up 
of  delegates  from  ten  of  the  fourteen  counties  that  formed  the 
State  of  New  York.  The  western  half  of  the  State  was  a  vast 
forest,  still  in  the  almost  undisturbed  possession  of  the  In- 
dians. Four  of  the  fourteen  counties.  New  York,  Richmond 
and  Kings  and  Queens  on  Long  Island,  were  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  Suffolk,  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Island,  was  not 
always  able  to  send  its  delegates,  William  Smith  and  John 
Sloss  Hobart,  across  the  Sound.  The  delegates  from  New 
York  County  were  permanent  and  distinguished  exiles,  who 
had  followed  the  migrations  of  the  Convention  from  Harlem 
to  White  Plains  and  Fishkill.  Several  of  the  largest  counties 
bore  names  that  have  long  been  forgotten,  and  nearly  all  of 
the  up-State  counties  have  changed  their  boundaries.  Char- 
lotte County  was  an  immense  tract  lying  above  Albany  and 
embracing  the  wilderness  away  to  the  Canada  line  and  stretch- 
ing east  and  west  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Lake  Champlain. 
Tryon  County,  named  after  that  Royal  Governor  who  lorded 
over  the  colony  of  New  York  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  who  was  the  most  cordially  hated  of  all  the  Royal 
Governors,  lay  west  of  Albany  County  and  extended  back  to 

the 


103 


Major  Backus' s 
'•'■gentlemen  of 
the  Horse" 


The  Convention 
of  the  State  of 
New  York 


Its  delegates 
were  distin- 
guished exiles 


I04 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Cumberland 
County  now  the 
State  of  Vermont 


Entry  of  the 
learned  secretary 


A  standing  roll- 
call 


the  indefinite  line  of  the  famous  Indian  Confederacy  of  the 
Five  Nations,  and  was  as  wide  as  the  State.  Albany  County 
itself  was  a  long,  diagonal  sweep  of  country  extending  back 
of  the  tier  of  counties  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson  to  the 
New  Jersey  line.  The  Cumberland  County  of  that  time  is 
now  the  State  of  Vermont.  The  vast  wilderness  of  Charlotte 
County  sent  to  the  Convention  that  William  Duer,  who  wrote 
daily  letters  to  headquarters  at  the  Roger  Morris  house. 

Some  ten  days  before  General  Washington  arrived  at  the 
Morris  house,  the  Convention  had  removed  its  sittings  from 
White  Plains  to  the  village  of  Fishkill.  It  held  its  first  meeting 
in  the  Episcopal  Church.  That  the  Convention  was  not  with- 
out its  trials  is  shown  by  the  first  entry  of  its  learned  secre- 
tary:— 

Die  Jovis,  9  ho.  a.m.,  September  5,  1776. 

The  Convention  of  this  State  met  pursuent  to  adjournment  in 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  Fishkill. 

Present.  Abraham  Yates,  Jun.,  Esq. 

New  York.   Mr.  Robt.  Harper,  Mr.  Duane,  Mr.  Bancker. 

Dutchess.   Mr.  Sackett,  Doctor  Crane,  Mr.  H.  Schenck. 

Tryon.  Mr.  William  Harper,  Mr.  Moore,  Mr.  Veder,  Mr.  New- 
kirk. 

Albany.  Mr.  Abraham  Yates,  General  Ten  Broeck,  Mr.  Cuy- 
ler.  Colonel  Livingston,  Mr.  Adgate,  Mr.  John  Ten  Broeck,  Colo- 
nel V.  Renselaer. 

Charlotte.   Mr.  Duer,  Major  Webster,  Colonel  Williams. 

Suffolk.   Mr.  William  Smith. 

Westchester.  Colonel  Cortlandt,  Judge  Graham,  Mr.  Haviland. 

Cumberland.   Mr.  Sessions,  Mr.  Stevens. 

Ulster.   Colonel  De  Witt,  Mr.  Tappan.    _  ■ 

Orange.   Colonel  Allison,  Mr.  Joseph  Smith,  Mr.  Wisner. 

This  Church  being  very  foul  with  the  dung  of  Doves  and  fowls, 
without  any  benches,  seats  or  other  Conveniencies  whatever, 
which  renders  it  unfit  for  the  use  of  this  Convention,  therefore 
they  unanimously  agreed  to  adjourn  to  the  Dutch  Church  in  this 
village,  and  adjourned  to  the  same  accordingly. 

The  roll-call  of  the  Convention,  for  obvious  reasons,  was  a 
standing  one,  in  the  midst  of  the  wrecked  pews  and  broken 
windows,  which  were  no  unusual  indication  of  the  hatred  of 
the  country  people  for  the  Church  of  England.  The  Dutch 
Church  was  unheated.  Stoves  were  a  new-fangled  idea,  not 
yet  altogether  accepted  and  approved  of,  and  were  still  very 

scarce 


The  Convention 


105 


scarce  in  the  colonies,  and  the  following  entries  in  the  Journal 
trace  the  subsequent  tribulations  of  the  Convention  when  the 
October  cold  began  to  pinch :  — 

October  1st.  Ordered  that  Mr.  Gilbert  Livingston  endeavour 
to  procure  the  use  of  a  large  iron  Stove  for  this  Convention. 

October  3d.  Ordered  that  the  President  do  without  delay  pro- 
vide two  large  Iron  Stoves  for  the  use  of  this  Convention,  at  the 
public  expense. 

October  7th.  Ordered  that  the  President  write  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Albany,  requesting  them  to  procure  by  purchase  or 
loan  for  the  use  of  this  convention,  the  iron  Stove  belonging  to 
the  Presbeterian  Church  at  Albany. 

Oct.  8th.  On  account  of  the  cold  and  dampness  of  the  Church 
the  Committee  [the  Committee  of  Safety,  sitting  in  place  of  the 
full  Convention],  adjourned  to  meet  tomorrow  at  Mr.  Isaac  Van 
Wyck's  Tavern. 

The  Convention  supervised  the  enlistment  of  State  troops, 
uniformed,  equipped,  and  paid  them,  issued  commissions, 
granted  supplies  to  the  army,  and,  in  short,  exercised  every 
function  of  a  State  Legislature  except  the  making  of  laws, 
which  was  very  wisely  delayed  until  the  issue  of  the  war  should 
be  determined.  The  examination  of  citizens  who  were  sus- 
pected of  being  "inimical  to  the  cause  of  America,"  and  their 
disposition  under  duress,  occupied  much  of  the  Convention's 
time.  While  General  Washington  was  at  the  Morris  house 
political  prisoners  were  the  guests  of  Governor  Trumbull  at 
Middletown,  Connecticut. 

To  exaggerate  the  enemy's  successes  or  his  numbers,  or 
even  to  express  pessimistic  views  as  to  the  success  of  the  revo- 
lution, was  a  sufficient  offense  to  bring  a  citizen  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  Convention,  as  in  the  case  of  William  Ware. 
The  Convention  was  the  executive  head  of  the  new  State  of 
New  York  and  the  base  of  General  Washington's  line  of  sup- 
plies as  long  as  he  operated  within  the  State. 

One  of  its  duties  was  the  employment  of  post-riders,  and, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Postmaster-General,  then  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  the  shifting  of  post-offices.  Before  Washing- 
ton evacuated  the  city  of  New  York,  the  city  postmaster, 
Ebenezer  Hazzard,  had  been  ordered  by  the  Convention  to  re- 
move his  post-office  to  Dobb's  Ferry.  As  early  as  the  ist  of 

September 


JVhen  the  cold 
began  to  pinch 


Duties  of  the 

Convention 


The  Convention 
removes  the 
New  Tork  post- 
ofpce  to  Dobb's 
Ferry 


io6 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Ebenexer 
Haxxard  at 
Major  Abraham 
Storm's 


Respecting  the 
Albany  riders 


The  Postmaster 
of  New  York 
had  no  desire  to 
be  at  head- 
quarters 


September  we  find  him  writing  from  Dobb's  Ferry  to  John 
M'Kesson,  the  Secretary  of  the  Convention.  In  a  postscript 
he  says:  — 

Will  it  not  be  proper  for  the  Convention  to  have  a  rider  daily 
to  and  from  New  York,  and  to  call  on  me  both  going  and  coming? 
I  may  be  found  at  Major  Abraham  Storm's.  Shall  pay  proper 
attention  to  the  Committee's  resolve  about  the  post  riding  on 
this  side  the  river,  but  I  fear  people  on  the  west  side  will  be  dis- 
satisfied. Will  you  send  word  over  the  river,  so  that  the  post 
may  be  prevented  going  on  the  west  side  to  New  York  this  trip. 

The  controversy  over  the  route  of  the  post-rider  was  a  seri- 
ous one  for  the  communities  along  the  river,  because  the  Post- 
Office  Department  was  too  poor  to  afford  a  rider  for  each  side. 
On  the  6th  of  September,  Ebenezer  Hazzard  writes  to  Abra- 
ham Yates,  the  President  of  the  Convention:  — 

Sir:  I  received  yesterday  a  letter  from  the  Comptroller,  in 
which  he  says,  "Mr.  Franklin  has  received  no  letter  from  Con- 
vention respecting  the  Albany  riders;  unless  there  is  an  absolute 
necesity  for  his  going  constantly  on  one  side  the  river,  it  had  best 
not  be  altered."  However,  notwithstanding  this,  I  imagine  the 
Convention's  design  may  be  answered  by  the  post's  riding  con- 
stantly on  the  east  side  as  far  up  as  the  Fishkill,  and  then  crossing, 
when  it  is  his  turn  to  ride  on  the  west  side  to  New  Windsor;  and  as 
there  are  few  or  no  letters  between  New-Windsor  and  New- York, 
the  revenue  of  the  office  will  not  be  diminished  by  the  alteration. 

In  the  same  letter  the  Comptroller  mentions  that  it  is  the  Post- 
master-General's desire  I  should  keep  my  office  at  Head-Quarters, 
as  most  of  the  letters  now  going  are  for  the  army.  In  consequence 
of  this  I  expect  the  Convention  will  not  long  have  the  office  so 
near  them,  unless  they  furnish  a  rider  to  ply  constantly  between 
Head-Quarters  to  carry  thither  such  letters  as  may  come  for  the 
army,  and  wait  there  while  the  General  gets  his  despatches  ready 
to  go  by  return  of  post.  This  I  should  think  they  might  do  with- 
out being  at  any  additional  expense,  as  I  understand  they  have  a 
rider  here  who  is  to  hold  himself  in  constant  readiness  to  go  to 
Head-Quarters  whenever  called  upon.  Please  to  favor  me  with 
a  line  upon  this  subject  as  soon  as  you  conveniently  can. 

The  following  letter  shows  that  the  postmaster  of  New 
York  City  had  no  desire  to  attach  his  office  to  headquarters, 
for  reasons  which  he  explains  later:  — 

Dobb's  Ferry,  September  6,  1776. 
Dear  Sir:   Sampson  [Dyckman]  gave  me  your  letter  yester- 
day in  due  season.    Their  Honours,  according  to  your  account, 

are 


The  Convention 


107 


are  like  myself,  very  busy  doing  nothing.  I  cannot  tell  where  the 
post-office  will  be  fixed;  it  is  kept  at  present  at  Hercules  Cronks', 
next  door  to  Major  Abraham  Storms',  one  mile  above  Dobbs 
Ferry;  but  the  Comptroller  has  informed  me  that  it  is  the  Post- 
Master  General's  desire  it  would  be  kept  at  Head-Quarters,  and 
I  am  apprehensive  I  shall  be  obliged  to  remove  thither,  unless 
the  Convention  will  keep  a  rider  to  go  from  hence  to  Head-Quar-* 
ters  with  letters,  and  wait  there  till  the  despatches  are  ready  to 
go  by  return  post.  When  the  matter  is  settled  I  will  let  you  know. 
Whenever  you  determine  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  so  respect- 
able a  body  as  the  Representatives  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
you  should  do  it  "with  submission." 

In  his  next  letter  to  the  Convention  he  says :  — 

I  do  not  expect  to  have  the  management  of  these  matters  much 
longer,  having  desired  that  another  Postmaster  may  be  ap- 
pointed for  the  district  of  New  York. 

His  desire  was  not  gratified,  however,  for  about  the  19th 
of  September,  Ebenezer  Hazzard,  with  his  wandering  post- 
office,  joined  General  Washington  on  Harlem  Heights.  In  a 
memorial  to  Congress,  November  14,  he  complained  that  as 
postmaster  of  New  York,  "under  a  necesity  of  keeping  his 
office  near  Head-Quarters,"  he  had  been  subjected,  by  the  fre- 
quent removals  of  the  Continental  Army,  to  extraordinary 
expense  and,  for  want  of  a  horse,  compelled  "to  follow  the 
army  from  place  to  place  on  foot."  The  trials  of  Ebenezer 
Hazzard  were  finally  rewarded  by  President  Washington, 
who  made  him  the  first  Postmaster-General  of  the  new-born 
nation. 

In  those  post-riding  days  Fishkill  was  a  long  way  from  New 
York;  so  far  away  that  the  news  of  the  retreat  from  New 
York  on  the  15  th  of  September,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
new  headquarters  at  the  Roger  Morris  house  the  day  before, 
had  not  reached  the  Convention  when  it  met  on  the  morning 
of  the  17th  of  September.  It  was  at  the  close  of  the  long  morn- 
ing session,  and  promptly  on  the  arrival  of  the  messenger,  that 
the  following  entry  was  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Con- 
vention:— 

A  letter  from  Joseph  Trumbull,  Esq.,  Commissary-General, 
dated  the  i6th  instant,  was  received  by  a  messenger,  and  read. 
He  therein  mentions  that  the  American  Army  had  evacuated 
New  York.    That  in  the  retreat  he  had  left  behind  him  large 

quantities 


New  York  post- 
ofpce  at 
Hercules 


Ebenezer 
Haxzard  and 
his  wandering 
post-office 


Fishkill  a  long 
way  from  New 
York 


io8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Appointment  of 
the  Committee 
of  Correspondence 


Action  of  the 
Committee  while 
still  in  the  dark 


Provides  for  a 
daily  mail 


quantities  of  Flour,  which  reduced  the  magazines  too  low;  and 
requests  the  aid  of  this  Convention  to  procure  flour. 

At  the  same  morning  session  the  first  act  of  the  Convention 
had  been  to  appoint  a  committee  to  employ  post-riders  be- 
tween Fishkill  and  headquarters.  A  report  of  this  committee 
was  made  and  a  letter  was  written  authorizing  an  agent  to 
"repair  to  New  York"  and  employ  the  post-riders,  while  the 
Convention  was  still  in  ignorance  of  the  evacuation  of  the 
city.  The  retreat  from  New  York  on  the  15  th  and  the  battle  of 
Harlem  Heights  on  the  i6th  of  September  had  put  the  post- 
riders  out  of  business  and  left  the  Convention  in  the  dark.  It 
was  this  condition  of  suspense  that  caused  the  appointment  of 
the  "Committee  of  Correspondence "  and  the  following  action 
of  the  committee,  while  still  in  the  dark:  — 

Resolved,  that  Uriah  Mitchel  and  Samuel  Dyckman  be  em- 
ployed as  riders.  That  Mitchel  set  out  from  this  place  and  Dyck- 
man from  New  York  on  one  and  the  same  day,  and  both  meet  at 
the  house  of  John  Blagg,  this  side  Croton's  River,  and  there  ex- 
change mails,  with  which  each  are  to  return  to  their  respective 
stages  the  day  following,  so  as  to  arrive  as  early  as  possible  on 
that  day;  that  is  Mitchel  to  Fishkill  and  Dyckman  to  New  York, 
and  set  out  again  the  day  after  and  perform  the  same  stages,  and 
so  to  continue  as  long  as  this  Committee  or  the  Convention  of  the 
State  shall  think  proper  to  employ  them,  and  that  there  be  al- 
lowed each  respectively,  while  in  the  service,  the  sum  of  sixteen 
shillings  per  day. 

This  resolution  was  only  the  recommendation  of  the  com- 
mittee to  the  Convention,  and  provided  for  a  mail  every  other 
day,  which  seems  not  to  have  been  satisfactory  to  the  Conven- 
tion in  frequency  of  service,  as  shown  by  the  following  letter : — 

Sir:  You  are  hereby  directed  and  empowered  to  repair  from 
this  place  to  New  York,  to  agree  with  some  person  at  Peekskill 
to  keep  a  horse  for  the  public  service,  and  with  some  other  per- 
son at  Odle's  to  keep  another  horse,  to  employ  a  rider  and  third 
horse  at  Head  Quarters,  who  shall  set  out  every  morning  at  day- 
break from  thence,  having  waited  upon  the  General  and  the 
Postmaster  the  evening  preceeding  for  their  letters,  and  upon 
General  Clinton  at  King's  Bridge,  from  whence  he  shall  repair 
to  Croton  river,  at  which  place  he  shall  engage  to  be  by  twelve 
o'clock  every  day,  and  exchange  his  mail  with  that  which  shall 
go  from  this  place  every  morning  at  the  same  hour,  and  return 
the  same  into  the  post  ofRce  that  night. 

That 


The  Convention 


109 


That  such  rider  shall  begin  to  ride  on  Thursday  next,  and  con- 
tinue to  ride  every  day  until  the  further  order  of  this  Congress, 
for  which  he  shall  be  allowed  a  reasonable  compensation,  and  be 
exempt  from  military  duty.  Or  if  he  shall  find  it  more  advan- 
tageous, he  may  agree  with  any  person  by  the  great  to  ride  daily 
from  New- York  and  return  thereto,  finding  their  own  horse,  for 
which  he  may  be  permitted  to  allow  any  sum  not  exceeding  three 
dollars  per  day. 

Bills  paid  by  the  Convention  show  that  sixteen  shiUings  per 
day  was  the  wage  paid  to  each  rider. 

The  Convention  met  daily  in  morning  and  afternoon  ses- 
sions. The  attendance  of  the  delegates  at  all  sittings  was 
understood  to  be  compulsory.  One  mounted  messenger  was 
maintained  by  the  Convention,  whose  principal  business  was 
to  round  up  delegates  who  overstayed  their  leaves.  The  mes- 
senger's name  was  Sampson  Dyckman.  He  was  familiarly 
called  "Sampson"  by  the  members,  and  to  the  guilty  stay- 
overs  he  was  the  dreaded  strong  man  that  his  name  implies. 

William  Duer  was  appointed  by  the  Convention  to  carry 
on  a  daily  correspondence  with  General  Washington's  head- 
quarters, and  Lieutenant  Tench  Tilghman  was  the  member  of 
the  staff  whose  duty  it  was  to  write  a  daily  letter  to  the  Con- 
vention. 

It  was  the  dawn  of  the  classic  period  in  the  infant  literature 
of  the  country,  the  period  that  a  little  later  gave  Greek  and 
Roman  names  to  the  towns,  such  as  Troy,  Syracuse,  Utica, 
Rome.  The  proceedings  of  the  Convention  were  not  recorded 
in  Latin,  but  it  is  evident  that  the  classical  education  of  its 
Secretary  had  not  been  neglected.  "Die  Solis  9  ho.  a.m.,"  was 
Sunday  morning,  but  the  Convention  seldom  met  on  Sunday. 
The  other  days  of  the  week,  as  recorded  by  the  learned  Secre- 
tary, were  "Die  Lunae,"  "Die  Martis,"  "Die  Mercurii,"  "Die 
Jovis,"  "Die  Veneris,"  and  "Die  Sabbati." 

There  were  periods  of  military  inactivity  when  the  Conven- 
tion adjourned,  leaving  the  business  of  the  State  to  a  few  mem- 
bers, who  held  sessions  under  the  title  of  the  "  Committee  of 
Safety,"  which  seems  to  have  met  on  plain  Mondays  and  Tues- 
days. 

Before  the  battle  of  Long  Island  the  Convention  heard 
rumors  that  the  city  of  New  York  might  be  burned  by  the 

army 


Rider  to  begin 
on  Thursday  next 


Sampson 
Dyckman 
the  messenger 
of  the  Convention 


Dawn  of  the 
classic  period 


I  lO 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  Convention 
interrogates 
General 
IVashington 


The  Convention 
orders  the 
church  bells  to 

'■'■New-Ark  " 


The  Covention 
orders  the  brass 
knockers  to 
'■'■New-Jrk  " 


The  Convention 
confiscates  the 
property  of  the 
Philipse  and 
Morris  /ami lies 


army  before  leaving  it  to  the  enemy,  and  as  early  as  the  22d 
of  August  interrogated  General  Washington  as  to  his  inten- 
tions: to  whom  he  replied  that  the  report  was  not  founded 
upon  the  least  authority  from  him,  and  added  that  "nothing 
but  the  last  necessity,  and  that  such  as  should  justify  me  to 
the  whole  world  would  induce  me  to  give  orders  for  that  pur- 
pose." 

The  removal  of  the  bells  from  the  churches  in  the  city, 
which  was  charged  to  Washington  by  the  enemy,  and  claimed 
to  have  been  done  preparatory  to  burning  the  city,  was  done 
by  order  of  the  Convention.  On  September  5,  after  a  some- 
what lengthy  preamble,  the  Convention 

Therefore,  Resolved,  unanimously.  That  his  Excellency  Gen- 
eral Washington  be  requested  and  authorized  to  cause  all  the 
Bells  in  the  different  Churches  and  publick  edifices  in  the  City 
of  New- York  to  be  taken  down  and  removed  to  New-Ark,  in  New 
Jersey,  with  all  possible  despatch,  that  the  fortunes  of  war  may 
not  throw  the  same  into  the  hands  of  our  enemy  and  deprive 
the  State,  at  this  critical  period,  of  that  necessary  though  unfor- 
tunate resource  for  supplying  our  want  of  cannon. 

Two  days  later,  on  the  7th  of  September,  the  Convention 
further,  — 

Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  Committee  of  Safety  and 
Correspondence  at  New-York  be  appointed  and  authorized  to 
take  from  the  doors  of  the  Houses  in  the  city  of  New  York  all 
the  Brass  Knockers,  and  that  they  cause  the  same  to  be  sent  to 
some  careful  person  at  New-Ark,  in  New  Jersey,  with  all  possible 
despatch;  that  the  said  Committee  keep  as  accurate  an  account 
as  possible  of  the  weight  and  value  of  them,  and  of  the  houses 
from  whence  taken,  in  order  that  satisfaction  may  be  hereafter 
made  to  the  respective  owners. 

Action  of  the  Convention  in  the  spring  of  1777,  aimed  at 
the  estates  of  the  so-called  "Loyalists,"  practically  confiscated 
the  property  of  the  Philipse  and  Morris  families.  Mrs.  Morris, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  at  the  manor  house  as  late  as  November, 
1776.  On  the  23d  of  December,  her  brother,  Frederick  Phil- 
ipse, was  permitted  to  leave  Middletown,  but  still  under  parole 
and  a  promise  to  return  to  Connecticut  if  the  Continental 
authorities  should  desire  at  any  time  to  hold  him  a  prisoner. 
He  arrived  at  his  home  just  in  time  for  the  Christmas  holi- 
days, 


The  Convention 


III 


days,  which  were  celebrated  for  the  last  time  at  the  old  manor 
house,  made  merry  by  his  own  children  and  the  four  children 
of  Roger  Morris,  who  alone  was  absent  from  the  festivities. 
These  holiday  times  marked  the  end  of  the  reign  of  the  Philipse 
family  at  Yonkers,  and  the  separation  forever  of  the  Morris 
family  from  their  beautiful  country  seat,  "Mount  Morris." 

The  British  were  now  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  it  is 
probable  that  both  families  removed  into  the  city,  under  Brit- 
ish protection,  very  soon  after  the  Christmas  holidays,  and 
before  the  drastic  action  of  the  State  Convention,  in  the  early 
spring,  would  have  compelled  their  removal. 

On  March  7,  1777,  the  Convention  passed  a  resolution  re- 
quiring all  citizens  who  were  prisoners  or  under  parole  to  ap- 
pear before  a  committee  of  the  said  Convention  and  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  new  State  and  to  the  cause  of  America, 
or  to  "depart  into  New  York  or  elsewhere  into  the  British 
lines,  with  their  families,  their  household  goods  and  wearing 
apparrel."  On  the  following  day,  March  8,  the  Convention 
further  resolved  on  the  sale  of  the  personal  property  of  such 
political  fugitives,  after  allowing  them  to  take  with  them  pro- 
visions enough  to  last  them  three  months.  The  sale  of  the 
stock  on  the  broad  acres  of  the  Philipse  manor  began  in  April, 
within  thirty  days  after  the  edict.  Such  slaves  as  had  not  been 
taken  into  New  York  became  the  property  of  the  State. 

At  just  what  date  in  1777  Frederick  Philipse  was  sum- 
moned to  surrender  his  person  to  the  Convention  and  return 
to  his  former  condition  of  prisoner-on-parole  at  Middletown, 
Connecticut,  does  not  appear.  He  was  in  the  British  lines 
when  the  summons  came,  and  it  was  not  expected  that  he 
would  comply  with  any  such  summons.  His  failure  to  do  so, 
however,  was  construed  as  a  violation  of  his  parole.  Other 
legislation  that  followed,  even  passing  sentence  of  death  upon 
persons  who  were  safely  within  the  British  lines,  and  whose 
apprehension  was  impossible,  not  to  say  undesirable,  was  far 
from  impotent.  Fifty-eight  persons,  including  Frederick  Phil- 
ipse, Roger  Morris,  Mary  Morris,  Beverly  Robinson,  and 
Susannah  Robinson,  were  attainted  of  treason  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  New  York  on  October  22,  1779.  The 
measure  was  intended  to  extinguish  the  title  to  real  property 

abandoned 


Christmas 
holidays  for  the 
last  time  at 
Philipse  manor 


All  citizens  to 
take  the  oath  of 
allegiance 


Frederick 
Philipse  in  the 
British  lines 


112 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


To  suffer  death 
without  benefit 
of  clergy 


Sale  of  the  real 
estate  of  persons 
condemned  as 
felons 


The  transaction 
of  "John  Jacob 
Astor 


abandoned  by  such  persons.  The  act  declared  that  "each 
and  every  one  of  them  who  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  be 
found  in  any  part  of  the  State  shall  be  and  are  hereby  ad- 
judged and  declared  guilty  of  Felony  and  shall  suffer  Death 
as  in  cases  of  felony  without  Benefit  of  Clergy." 

Another  of  these  condemned  felons,  equally  safe  from  cap- 
ture, was  John  Watts,  of  the  King's  Council,  who  had  sailed 
with  Roger  Morris  on  the  Harriet  Pacquet  for  Fahnouth  in 
May,  177s,  and  who  had  never  returned  to  America. 

The  sale,  by  the  State  of  New  York,  of  the  real  estate  of 
such  persons  condemned  as  felons  followed  in  due  course  of 
law.  According  to  Flick's  "Loyalism  in  America,"  ^  "The 
large  estate  of  Roger  Morris,  amounting  to  50,850  acres 
(Dutchess  Co.)  was  offered  for  sale  April  20th,  1781,  and  by 
June  30th,  1785,  39,100  acres  were  disposed  of  "for  a  consid- 
erable sum." 

We  are  informed  by  the  same  authority  that  at  the  close  of 
the  Revolution,  Roger  Morris  owned,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
a  "tract  in  South  Ward,  n  by  Stone  St,  w  by  Broadway  or 
White  Hall  St,  s  by  Widow  Moore,  e  by  Clarkson.  Bought 
by  Jno  Lamb  and  Jno  Delamater,  Merchants."  This  tract 
was  the  site  of  the  burned  house. 

These  British  subjects  who  lost  their  estates  by  forfeiture 
put  in  claims  against  Great  Britain  for  reimbursement.  Ac- 
cording to  the  author  cited  above,  Frederick  Philipse  claimed 
^777,000,  and  received  $210,000.  Beverly  Robinson  claimed 
$344,000,  and  received  $128,000.  Roger  Morris  claimed  $310,- 
000,  and  received  $91,000. 

Sabine,  in  "Loyalists  of  the  American  Revolution,"^  makes 
the  following  statements,  explaining  the  act  of  attainder  against 
the  sisters  of  Frederick  Philipse,  and  the  later  transaction  of 
John  Jacob  Astor,  through  which  the  family  of  Roger  Morris 
received  another  reimbursement  of  $100,000:  — 

At  the  Revolutionary  era  part  of  the  Philipse  estate  [observes 
Mr.  Sabine]  was  in  possession  of  Colonel  Morris  in  right  of  his  wife, 
and  was  confiscated,  and  that  the  whole  interest  should  pass  under 
the  act,  Mrs.  Morris  was  included  in  the  attainder.  It  is  believed 
that  this  lady,  her  sisters,  Mrs.  Robinson,  and  Mrs.  Inglis,  were 
the  only  females  who  were  attainted  of  treason  during  the  struggle. 

But 

■  Paee  151.  *  Vol.  II,  p.  104. 


The  Convention 


113 


But  it  appeared  in  due  time,  that  the  confiscation  act  did  not  affect 
the  rights  of  Mrs.  Morris's  children.  The  fee  simple  of  the  estate 
was  valued  by  the  British  Government  at  20,000  pounds,  and  by 
the  rules  of  determining  the  worth  of  life  interests,  the  life  in- 
terest of  Col.  Morris  and  his  wife  were  fixed  at  12,605  pounds, 
for  which  they  received  a  certificate  of  compensation. 

In  1787,  the  attorney  general  of  England  examined  the  case, 
and  gave  the  opinion,  that  the  revertionary  interest  (or  property 
of  the  children  at  the  decease  of  the  parents)  was  not  included 
in  their  attainder,  and  was  recoverable  under  the  principles  of 
law  and  of  right.  In  the  year  1809,  their  son,  Captain  Henry 
Gage  Morris  of  the  royal  navy,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  his  two 
sisters,  accordingly  sold  this  revertionary  interest  to  John  Jacob 
Astor,  Esquire,  of  New  York,  for  the  sum  of  20,000  pounds  Ster- 
ling. In  1828  Mr.  Astor  made  a  compromise  with  the  state  of 
New  York,  by  which  he  received  for  the  rights  thus  purchased 
by  him  (with  or  without  associates)  the  large  amount  of  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  terms  of  the  arrangement  re- 
quired, that  within  a  specified  time  he  should  execute  a  deed  of 
conveyance  in  fee  simple,  with  warrentee  against  the  claims  of 
the  Morrises  —  husband  and  wife  —  their  heirs,  and  all  persons 
claiming  under  them,  and  that  he  should  also  obtain  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  affirming  the 
validity  and  perfectibility  of  his  title.  These  conditions  were 
complied  with,  and  the  respectable  body  of  farmers  who  held  the 
confiscated  lands  under  titles  derived  from  the  sales  of  the  com- 
missioners of  forfeitures,  were  thus  quieted  in  their  possessions. 


Case  examined 
by  the  attorney 
general  of 
England 


The  Supreme 
Court  of  the 
United  States 


114 


Most  eventful 
day  in  the  history 
of  the  Morris 
house 


Captain  Alexan- 
der Gray  don  — 
his  book 


T 


CHAPTER    X 

THE   CAPTURE   OF   THE    HOUSE 

H 

HE  most  eventful  day  in  the  history  of  the  Morris 
house  was  the  i6th  day  of  November,  1776,  when 
fourteen  thousand  British  and  Hessian  troops  as- 
sailed and  captured  the  Heights,  including  Fort 
Washington  and  its  garrison  of  nearly  three  thousand  men. 
The  attack  was  made  by  the  army  which  had  been  falling 
leisurely  back  from  the  battle  of  White  Plains,  and  by  the 
troops  from  New  York  City  under  Earl  Percy.  Washington 
by  this  time  had  crossed  the  Hudson  and  was  at  Fort  Lee. 

The  most  interesting  and  the  only  comprehensive  account 
of  the  capture  of  Fort  Washington  and  the  Heights  of  Har- 
lem and  of  the  operation  of  the  troops  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  the  Roger  Morris  house  is  given  by  Captain  Alexander 
Graydon,  in  his  book,  "Memoirs  of  a  Life  chiefly  passed  in 
Pennsylvania  within  the  last  60  Years,  with  Occasional  Re- 
marks upon  the  General  Occurrences,  Character  and  Spirit 
of  that  Eventful  Period." 

The  book  was  printed  by  John  Wyeth,  of  Harrisburg,  in 
181 1.  The  author  was  a  captain  in  Colonel  Cadwalader's 
Pennsylvania  regiment,  and  a  young  man  of  a  degree  of  edu- 
cation and  cultivation  quite  unusual  in  regimental  officers 
of  that  day  in  the  American  army.  He  was  familiar  with  the 
Heights,  having  been  on  the  ground  in  General  Mifflin's  bri- 
gade since  the  beginning  of  Fort  Washington.  He  was  cap- 
tured close  to  the  Morris  house  and  spent  the  first  night  of 
his  captivity  in  the  loft  of  Colonel  Morris's  new  barn.  The 
recorded  experience  of  no  other  officer  touches  the  story  of  the 
Morris  house  so  intimately. 

After  a  summary  of  his  description  of  the  disposition  of  the 
American  troops  to  meet  the  attack  of  the  enemy,  we  will  let 

him 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


IIS 


him  relate  his  own  adventures.  Before  daybreak  on  the  i6th 
of  November,  Captain  Graydon  was  at  the  lower  line  of  breast- 
works on  Harlem  Heights,  facing  south.  His  colonel,  Cad- 
walader,  with  his  own  and  Magaw's  regiment  and  some 
broken  battalions  of  Pennsylvania  troops,  was  in  command 
of  the  right  of  our  line.  Colonel  Rawlins,  with  his  Maryland 
regiment,  had  the  left  at  Fort  Tryon.  Colonel  Baxter  com- 
manded a  body  of  men  posted  opposite  to  the  fort  on  the 
bluff  overlooking  the  Harlem  River,  where  the  enemy  was 
showing  activity.  The  front  facing  the  Harlem  and  continu- 
ing south  was  committed  to  the  military  of  the  flying  camp 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Magaw,  who  nevertheless 
remained  in  the  fort.  Captain  Graydon  states  that  from  Colo- 
nel Baxter's  post,  along  the  west  bank  overlooking  the  Har- 
lem- River,  "to  Colonel  Roger  Morris's  house,  a  distance  of 
not  less  than  a  mile  and  a  half,  there  were  no  troops  posted  for 
observation  or  defence." 

About  midday  Colonel  Cadwalader,  learning  that  the  enemy 
were  coming  down  the  Harlem  in  boats  to  land  in  his  rear, 
sent  three  of  his  captains  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  to 
the  bank  south  of  the  Morris  house.  About  the  same  num- 
ber were  sent  from  Fort  Washington,  arriving  early  enough 
to  open  fire  on  the  boats,  where  it  is  claimed  about  ninety  of 
the  enemy  were  killed  or  wounded.  Notwithstanding  this 
execution  the  American  troops  retired  to  the  fort  and  "this 
body  of  the  enemy  immediately  advanced  and  took  possession 
of  the  ground  in  advance  of  and  a  little  below  Morris's  house, 
where  some  soldiers'  huts  had  been  left  standing,  not  far  from 
the  second  line."  Captain  Graydon's  story  is  of  events  that 
took  place  in  the  afternoon :  — 

The  first  notice  that  I  had  of  the  intrenchment  being  given 
up  was  from  an  officer  I  did  not  know,  posted  at  some  distance 
from  me,  going  oflF  with  his  men.  I  called  to  him  to  know  what  he 
meant.  He  answered  that  he  was  making  the  best  of  his  way  to 
the  fort,  as  the  rest  of  the  troops  had  retreated  long  since.  As  I 
had  no  reason  to  doubt  his  veracity,  I  immediately  formed  my 
company,  and  began  to  retire  in  good  order.  .  .  .  After  proceed- 
ing some  hundred  paces,  I  reflected  that  I  had  no  orders  for  what 
I  was  doing;  and  that,  although  I  had  no  right  to  expect  exact- 
ness, in  a  moment  of  such  pressure,  it  was  yet  possible  my  move- 
ment 


Tosts  ofthi 
different  com- 
mands 


Action  of  Colonel 
Cadwalader 


Captain  Gray- 
don s  story 


ii6 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


I  halted  my  men 


I  walked  on 
accompanied  by 
Foreit 


They  shot 
over  us 


ment  might  be  premature.  I  knew  nothing  of  what  had  passed 
in  the  center,  or  of  the  enemy  being  master  of  the  high  grounds 
in  my  rear  about  Colonel  Morris's  house,  from  whom,  no  doubt, 
had  proceeded  the  cannon  balls  that  whizzed  by  us,  and  for  which, 
coming  in  that  direction,  I  could  not  account.  To  be  entirely  cor- 
rect in  my  conduct,  I  here  halted  my  men,  and  went  myself  to 
a  rising  ground  at  some  distance,  from  which  I  might  have  a  view 
of  the  lines  where  Colonel  Cadwalader  had  been  posted.  They 
seemed  thoroughly  manned;  and  at  the  instant,  I  beckoned  to  the 
officers  to  march  back  the  company,  which  they  immediately 
put  in  motion;  but  looking  more  attentively,  I  perceived  that  the 
people  I  saw  were  British  and  Hessian  troops  that  were  eagerly 
pushing  forward.  Upon  this  I  hastened  back  to  my  party,  and 
as  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  being  in  a  situation  to  be  cut  to 
pieces  by  cavalry,  I  ordered  them,  under  the  command  of  my  en- 
sign, to  make  the  best  of  their  way  and  join  the  body  of  men, 
which  none  doubted  being  our  own,  on  the  heights  beyond  the  in- 
ner lines;  and  that  I  would  follow  them  as  fast  as  I  could,  for  I 
was  a  good  deal  out  of  breath  with  the  expedition  I  had  used  in 
going  to  and  returning  from  the  ground,  which  gave  me  a  view 
of  the  outer  lines.  I  accordingly  walked  on,  accompanied  by 
Forest,  who  did  not  choose  to  leave  me  alone.  The  body  I  had 
pointed  to  and  directed  my  company  to  join,  under  the  idea  of 
their  being  our  own  men,  turned  out  to  be  the  British,  consisting 
of  Colonel  Stirling's  division  of  Highlanders.  Upon  this  dis- 
covery, we  held  a  moment's  consultation,  and  the  result  was, 
that,  hemmed  in  as  we  were  on  every  side,  there  was  no  chance 
of  escaping;  and  that  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  give  ourselves 
up  to  them.  Thus  circumstanced  we  clubbed  our  fusees  in  token 
of  surrender  and  continued  to  advance  towards  them.  They 
either  did  not  or  would  not  take  the  signal;  and  though  there 
were  but  two  of  us,  from  whom  they  could  not  possibly  expect  a 
design  to  attack,  they  did  not  cease  firing  at  us.  I  may  venture 
to  say,  that  not  less  than  ten  guns  were  discharged  with  their 
muzzles  towards  us,  within  the  distance  of  forty  or  fifty  yards; 
and  I  might  be  nearer  the  truth  in  saying,  that  some  were  let  off 
within  twenty.  Luckily  for  us,  it  was  not  our  riflemen  to  whom 
we  were  targets;  and  it  is  astonishing  how  even  these  blunt 
shooters  could  have  missed  us.  But  as  we  were  ascending  a  consid- 
erable hill  they  shot  over  us.  I  observed  that  they  took  no  aim, 
and  that  the  moment  of  presenting  and  firing,  was  the  same.  As  I 
had  full  leisure  for  reflection,  and  was  perfectly  collected,  though 
fearful  that  their  design  was  to  give  no  quarter,  I  took  off  my  hat 
with  such  a  sweep  of  the  arm  as  could  not  but  be  observed,  with- 
out ceasing  however  to  advance.  This  had  the  intended  effect:  a 
loud  voice  proceeded  from  the  breastwork,  and  the  firing  imme- 
diately ceased.  An  officer  of  the  42d  Regiment  advanced  towards 
us;  and  as  I  was  foremost,  he  civilly  accosted  me  by  asking  my 

rank. 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


117 


rank.  Being  informed  of  this,  *as  also  of  Forest's,  he  inquired 
where  the  fort  lay  and  where  Colonel  Magaw  was.  I  pointed  in 
the  direction  of  the  fort,  and  told  him  I  had  not  seen  Colonel 
Magaw  during  the  day.  Upon  this,  he  put  us  under  the  care  of  a 
sergeant  and  a  few  men,  and  left  us.  The  sergeant  was  a  decent- 
looking  man,  who,  on  taking  us  into  custody,  bestowed  upon  us 
in  broad  Scotch  the  friendly  admonition  of  "Young  men,  ye 
should  never  fight  against  your  King."  The  little  bustle  pro- 
duced by  our  surrender  was  scarcely  over,  when  a  British  offi- 
cer on  horseback,  apparently  of  high  rank,  rode  up  at  a  full  gal- 
lop, exclaiming,  "What,  taking  prisoners,  kill  them,  kill  every 
man  of  them."  My  back  was  towards  him  when  he  spoke;  and 
although,  by  this  time,  there  was  none  of  that  appearance  of 
ferocity  in  the  guard,  which  would  induce  much  fear  that  they 
would  execute  his  command,  I  yet  thought  it  well  enough  to 
parry  it,  and  turning  to  him,  I  took  off  my  hat  saying,  "Sir,  I  put 
myself  under  your  protection."  No  man  was  ever  more  effec- 
tually rebuked.  His  manner  was  instantly  softened;  he  met  my 
salutation  with  an  inclination  of  his  body,  and  after  a  civil  ques- 
tion or  two,  as  if  to  make  amends  for  his  sanguinary  mandate, 
he  rode  off  toward  the  fort,  to  which  he  had  enquired  the  way. 

Though  I  had  delivered  up  my  arms,  I  had  not  adverted  to  a 

cartouche  box  which  I  wore  about  my  waist,  and  which  having 
once  belonged  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  presented  in  front  the 
gilded  letters  G.  R.  Exasperated  at  this  trophy  on  the  body  of  a 
rebel  one  of  the  soldiers  seized  the  belt  with  great  violence  and 
in  the  attempt  to  unbuckle  it  had  nearly  jerked  me  off  my  legs. 
To  appease  the  offended  loyalty  of  the  honest  Scot,  I  submissively 
took  it  off  and  delivered  it  to  him,  being  conscious  that  I  had  no 
longer  any  right  to  it. 

At  this  time  a  Hessian  came  up.  He  was  not  a  private,  neither 
did  he  look  like  a  regular  officer:  He  was  some  retainer,  however, 
to  the  German  troops  and  was  as  much  of  a  brute  as  any  one  I 
have  ever  seen  in  the  human  form.  The  wretch  came  near  enough 
to  elbow  us;  and  half  unsheathing  his  sword,  with  a  countenance 
that  bespoke  a  most  violent  desire  to  use  it  upon  us,  he  grinned 
out  in  broken  English,  "Eh,  you  Rebel,  you  damned  rebel." 

I  had  by  this  time  entire  confidence  in  our  Scotchman  and 
therefore  regarded  the  caitiff  with  the  same  indifference  that  I 
should  have  viewed  a  caged  wild  beast,  though  with  much  greater 
abhorrence. 

These  transactions,  which  occupied  about  ten  minutes,  passed 
upon  the  spot  on  which  we  were  taken,  whence  we  were  marched 
to  an  old  stable  or  outhouse,  where  we  found  about  forty  or  fifty 
prisoners  already  collected,  principally  officers,  of  whom  I  only 
particularly  recollect  Lieutenant  Broadhead  of  our  battalion.  We 
remained  on  the  outside  of  this  building  and  for  nearly  an  hour 

sustained 


Thi  sergeant 
was  a  decent- 
looking  man 


At  this  time  a 
Hessian  came  up 


IVe  remained  on 
the  outside  of  the 
building 


ii8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Young  and 
insolent  puppies 


If^e  were 
removed  to  the 
barn  of  Colonel 
Morris's  house 


I  found  Captain 
Tudor  hert 


sustained  a  series  of  the  most  intolerable  abuse.  This  chiefly  pro- 
ceeded from  the  officers  of  the  light  infantry  for  the  most  part 
young  and  insolent  puppies,  whose  worthlessness  was  apparently 
their  recommendation  to  a  service,  which  placed  them  in  the  post 
of  danger,  and  in  the  way  of  becoming  food  for  powder,  their  most 
appropriate  destination  next  to  that  of  the  gallows.  The  term 
"rebel,"  with  the  epithet  "damned"  before  it,  was  the  mildest 
we  received.  We  were  twenty  times  told,  sometimes  with  a  taunt- 
ing affectation  of  concern,  that  we  should  every  man  of  us  be 
hanged;  and  were  nearly  as  many  times  paraded  with  the  most 
inconceivable  insolence,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether 
there  were  not  some  deserters  among  us;  and  these  were  always 
sought  for  among  the  officers,  as  if  the  lowest  fellow  in  their  army 
was  fit  for  any  post  in  ours.  "There's  a  fellow,"  one  upstart 
cockney  would  exclaim,  "that  I  could  swear  was  a  deserter." 
"What  country  man  are  you,  sir.-""  "Did  you  not  belong  to  such 
a  regiment.?"  I  was  not  indeed  challenged  for  a  deserter;  but  the 
indignity  of  being  ordered  about  by  such  contemptible  whipsters 
for  a  moment  unmanned  me,  and  I  was  obliged  to  apply  my  hand- 
kerchief to  my  eyes.  This  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I 
had  been  the  victim  of  brutal,  cowardly  oppression;  and  I  was  un- 
equal to  the  shock,  but  my  elasticity  of  mind  was  soon  restored, 
and  I  viewed  it  with  the  indignant  contempt  it  deserved. 

For  the  greater  convenience  of  guarding  us,  we  were  removed 
from  this  place  to  the  barn  of  Colonel  Morris's  house,  already 
mentioned,  which  had  been  the  headquarters  of  our  army,  as  it 
now  was  of  the  Royal  one.  This  was  the  great  bank  of  deposit 
for  prisoners  taken  out  of  the  fort;  and  already  pretty  well  filled. 
It  was  a  good  new  building,  and  we  were  ushered  into  it  among 
the  rest,  the  whole  body  consisting  of  from  a  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred,  composing  a  motley  group,  to  be  sure.  Here 
were  men  and  officers  of  all  descriptions,  regulars  and  militia, 
troops  continental  and  state,  some  in  uniforms,  some  without 
them,  and  some  in  hunting  shirts,  the  mortal  aversion  to  a  red 
coat.  Some  of  the  officers  had  been  plundered  of  their  hats  and 
some  of  their  coats,  and  upon  the  new  society  into  which  we  were 
introduced,  with  whom  a  showy  exterior  was  all  in  all,  we  were 
certainly  not  calculated  to  make  a  very  favorable  impression. 
I  found  Captain  Tudor  here  of  our  regiment,  who  if  I  mistake 
not,  had  lost  his  hat.  It  was  here  also  that  not  long  after  I  saw 
Ensign  Steddiford  of  our  regiment  at  a  little  distance,  at  large 
and  in  close  conference  with  Major  Skene.  So  friendly  an  inter- 
course between  a  British  officer  and  a  rebel  was  so  strikingly  in 
contrast  to  the  general  insolence  I  had  received  and  was  still 
treated  with  that  it  baffled  every  hypothesis  I  could  frame  to 
account  for  it.  But  it  was  afterwards  explained  by  Steddiford. 
The  garrison  had  capitulated;  and  Skene,  being  desirous  to  walk 
to  this  part  of  the  field,  had  proposed  to  Steddiford  to  accom- 
pany 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


119 


pany  him,  observing  with  the  frankness  and  circumspection  of 
an  old  soldier,  that  each  would  be  a  safeguard  to  the  other  — 
"I,"  says  he,  "shall  protect  you  from  our  men,  and  you  will  pro- 
tect me  from  yours,  should  there  be  any  of  either  lurking  in  the 
woods,  and  disposed  to  hostility." 

Shortly  after  that  it  was  announced  by  an  huzza  that  the  fort 
had  surrendered.  This  I  think  was  about  two  o'clock. 

The  officer  who  commanded  the  guard  in  whose  custody  we 
were,  was  an  ill-looking,  low-bred  fellow  of  this  dashing  corps  of 
light  infantry.  As  I  stood  as  near  as  possible  to  the  door  for  the 
sake  of  air,  the  enclosure  in  which  we  were  being  extremely 
crowded  and  unpleasant,  I  was  particularly  exposed  to  his  bru- 
tality; and  repelling  with  some  severity  one  of  his  attacks,  for  I 
was  becoming  desperate  and  careless  of  safety,  the  ruffian  ex- 
claimed, "Not  a  word,  sir,  or  I'll  give  you  my  butt,"  at  the  same 
time  clubbing  his  fusee  and  drawing  it  back  as  if  to  give  a  blow. 
I  fully  expected  it,  but  he  contented  himself  with  the  threat.  As 
to  see  the  prisoners  was  a  matter  of  some  curiosity,  we  were  com- 
plimented with  a  continual  succession  of  visitants,  consisting  of 
officers  of  the  British  army.  There  were  several  of  these  present, 
when  the  sergeant-major  came  to  take  an  account  of  us;  and 
particularly,  a  list  of  such  of  us  as  were  officers.  This  sergeant, 
though  not  uncivil,  had  all  that  animated  degagee  impudence  of 
air,  which  belongs  to  a  self-complacent  non-commissioned  officer 
of  the  most  arrogant  army  in  the  world,  and  with  his  pen  in  his 
hand  and  his  paper  on  his  knee,  applied  to  each  of  us  in  turn  for 
his  rank.  He  had  just  set  mine  down,  when  he  came  to  a  little 
squat  militia  officer  from  York  County,  who,  somewhat  to  the 
deterioration  of  his  appearance,  had  substituted  the  dirty  crown 
of  an  old  hat  for  a  plunder-worthy  beaver  that  had  been  taken 
from  him  by  a  Hessian.  He  was  -known  to  be  an  officer  from  hav- 
ing been  assembled  among  us,  for  the  purpose  of  enumeration. 
"You  are  an  officer,  sir?"  said  the  sergeant.  "Yes,"  was  the 
answer.  "Your  rank,  sir,"  with  a  significant  smile.  "I  am  a 
KEPPUN,"  replied  the  little  man  in  a  chuff,  firm  tone.  Upon  this 
there  was  an  immoderate  roar  of  laughter  among  the  officers 
about  the  door,  who  were  attending  to  the  process;  and  I  am  not 
sure  I  did  not  laugh  myself. 

Although  the  day  was  seasonably  cool,  yet  from  the  number 
crowded  in  the  barn,  the  air  within  was  oppressive  and  suffocat- 
ing, which,  in  addition  to  the  agitations  of  the  day,  had  produced 
an  excessive  thirst,  and  there  was  a  continual  cry  for  water.  I 
cannot  say  this  was  unattended  to,  the  soldiers  were  constantly 
administering  to  it  by  bringing  water  in  a  bucket.  But  though 
we,  about  the  door,  did  well  enough,  the  supply  was  very  inade- 
quate to  such  a  number  of  mouths;  and  they  must  have  suffered 
much.  The  fellow  who  had  menaced  me  with  his  butt  stood  with 
his  fusee  across  the  door,  and  kept  it  closely  immured.   I  did  not 

choose 


The  fort  surren- 
dered about  two 
o'clock 


"  Not  a  word, 
sir,  or  P II  give 
you  my  butt " 


'■'•  I  am  a  kep- 
pun"  replied  the 
little  man 


There  was  a 
continual  cry 
for  water 


I20 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


upon  this  the 
sentinels  were 
■withdrawn 


Kindness  of 

Lieutenant 

Beckett 


I  am  invited  to 
breakfast 


choose  to  ask  favors  of  him;  but  addressing  myself  to  the  officers 
without  the  door,  who  had  been  put  in  good  humor  by  their  laugh 
at  our  poor  militia  captain,  I  asked  them  if  they  made  no  dis- 
tinction between  officers  and  privates.  "Most  certainly  we  do," 
said  one  of  them.  I  then  observed  that  it  would  be  very  agree- 
able to  us  to  be  somewhat  separated  from  them  now,  and  to  re- 
ceive a  little  fresh  air.  Upon  this  the  sentinels  were  withdrawn 
to  the  distance  of  about  ten  or  twelve  feet  from  the  building;  and 
we  were  told  that  such  of  us  as  were  officers  might  walk  before 
the  door.  This  was  a  great  relief  to  us  as  well  as  to  the  men  in 
giving  them  more  room. 

Following  Lieutenant  Graydon's  description  of  his  capture, 
and  referring  to  Sauthier's  map,  it  is  evident  that  he  advanced 
with  clubbed  musket  just  west  of  Colonel  Morris's  garden, 
which  was  opposite  to  the  house,  and  that  the  shots  and  the 
"loud  voice"  came  from  behind  that  very  breastwork  that  is 
shown  as  extending  into  the  garden.  He  had  probably  been 
conducted  to  the  King's  Bridge  Road  before  he  encountered 
the  galloping  officer  who  favored  killing  the  prisoners.  Much 
of  the  charm  of  his  story  consists  in  the  ease  with  which  one 
can  follow  him  over  familiar  ground. 

Captain  Graydon  relates  that  at  nightfall  they  were  taken 
from  the  "custody  of  a  low  ruffian"  and  "transferred  to  that 
of  a  gentleman  " :  — 

This  was  Lieutenant  Beckett,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection 
of  the  27th  or  37th  Regiment.  Upon  taking  the  guard  in  the 
evening,  he  expressed  concern  about  our  lodgings,  and  proposed 
to  us  to  accompany  him  into  the  barn-loft  to  see  whether  that 
would  do.  He  was  also  attended  by  some  of  his  brother  officers. 
We  ascended  by  a  very  good  stepladder,  and  found  a  spacious 
room  well  roofed  and  floored  and  clear  of  lumber.  "This,  gentle- 
men, I  think  may  do,"  said  he.  "1  daresay  you  have  sometimes 
lodged  in  a  worse  place."  That  we  had  we  told  him  and  that  this 
was  as  comfortable  as  we  could  desire.  "  I  will  send  you  if  I  can," 
said  he,  "a  bottle  of  wine;  but  at  any  rate  a  bottle  of  spirits." 
And  as  to  the  latter  he  was  as  good  as  his  word;  a  soldier  in  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  brought  it  to  us  and  this  was  our  substitute 
for  supper  as  well  as  dinner.  In  the  morning  a  little  after  sunrise, 
a  soldier  brought  me  Mr.  Beckett's  compliments  with  a  request 
that  I  should  come  down  and  breakfast  with  him,  bringing  two 
of  my  friends  with  me,  as  he  had  not  the  means  of  entertaining 
more.  I  thankfully  accepted  his  invitation,  and  took  with  me 
Forest  and  Tudor.  He  was  seated  on  a  bench  before  the  door 
with  a  good  fire  before  him,  and  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  in  a 

semicircle 


Sauthiers  Map  of  the  North  Part  of  New  York  Island 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


121 


semicircle  about  him.  Besides  the  bench  we  were  accommodated 
with  a  chair  or  two,  and  he  gave  us  a  dish  of  very  good  coffee 
with  plenty  of  excellent  toast. 

Colonel  Morris's  new  barn,  with  its  first  crowd  of  prisoners, 
became  at  once  the  guardhouse  of  the  new  British  headquar- 
ters, so  that  Lieutenant  Graydon  was  lodged  in  the  guard- 
house overnight  and  his  generous  entertainment  at  breakfast, 
by  Lieutenant  Beckett,  the  officer  of  the  guard,  was  at  the 
entrance  to  the  guardhouse.  He  was  a  prisoner  by  courtesy 
and  probably  got  no  nearer  to  the  great  house,  in  plain  view 
across  the  grounds,  where  the  British  generals  were  settling 
the  business  of  the  surrender.  This  barn  of  Colonel  Morris's, 
according  to  Von  Kraft,  was  in  later  years  used  for  a  church, 
where  weekly  services  were  held  on  Sundays,  under  the  name 
of  "Church  Parades."  It  was  probably  in  front  of  this  barn 
that  the  following  picturesque  incident  occurred,  as  described 
by  Lieutenant  Graydon :  — 

About  noon,  a  young  officer,  smartly  dressed  and  well  mounted, 
rode  up  with  his  horse  in  a  foam,  and  pulling  out  his  watch,  ob- 
served that  he  had  scarcely  been  an  hour  in  coming  from  New 
York.  He  was  a  genuine,  smooth-faced,  fresh-coloured  English- 
man, and  from  the  elegance  of  his  horse,  and  the  importance  of 
his  manner,  I  supposed  him  to  be  a  person  of  family  and  consid- 
eration. "Beckett,"  said  he,  looking  round  him,  "this  is  a  damned 
strong  piece  of  ground  —  ten  thousand  of  our  men  would  defend 
it  against  the  world. 

Speaking  of  the  quiet  that  reigned  on  the  lines  before  the 
fighting  began.  Lieutenant  Graydon  writes :  — 

Things  remained  in  this  position  for  about  an  hour  and  a  half, 
during  which  interval  General  Washington,  with  Generals  Put- 
nam, Greene,  Mercer,  and  other  principal  officers,  came  over  the 
North  River  from  Fort  Lee  and  crossed  the  Island  to  Morris's 
house;  from  whence  they  viewed  the  position  of  our  troops  and 
the  operations  of  the  enemy  in  that  quarter.  .  .  .  They  retired 
by  the  way  they  came  without  making  any  change  in  the  dis- 
position of  the  troops,  or  communicating  any  new  orders.  It  is 
a  fact  not  generally  known  that  the  British  troops  took  possession 
of  the  very  spot  on  which  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  the 
general  officers  with  him  had  stood  in  fifteen  minutes  after  they 
left  it. 

Another  account  of  the  capture  of  Fort  Washington  is  given 
in  the  journal  of  a  Pennsylvania  soldier:  — 

on 


Colonel  Morris's 
new  barn  —  the 
guardhouse 


"  Beckett,  this  is 
a  damned  strong 
piece  of  ground' ' 


General  Wash- 
iugton  comes  and 

goes 


'Journal  of  a 

Pennsylvania 

soldier 


122 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


"  IVhare  we 
Culd  See  they 
Resellers"  ' 


The  story  of 
Ichabod  Perry 


<-Coln.McCoye" 
beheld  the  conse- 
quence with 
tears  in  his  eyes 


on  the  14  of  November  I  went  over  to  York  Island  Whare  we 
Culd  See  they  Regellers  Quite  playn  and  talk  to  them  a[cross]  the 
river  thats  runs  [there  by]  Kings  bridge  And  the  Santerryes 
Ceeps  A  fireing  Deally  at  one  another  and  on  November  the  1 5 
they  Engliss  Surrounded  our  men  upon  York  Island  and  Druve 
them  ought  of  our  Lines  and  forst  them  to  forth  Wesenton  Whare 
there  Was  a  Great  number  of  both  partyes  Slayn  but  there  Was 
two  for  one  kild  of  they  Engliss  for  one  of  ours  and  There  Was  2 
thousand  and  one  half  of  our  men  prisoners  that  Same  Day.  In 
our  forth  fire  they  had  it  to  Give  up  for  Want  of  more  men  for  they 
regs  ware  10  to  one  and  that  Same  Night  our  men  was  all  taken 
to  York  town  and  in  our  Camp  there  was  an  Express  that  they 
Enemy  W^s  a  landing  just  by  our  ferry  our  orders  Was  to  perrade 
With  ought  beating  they  Drums  to  attack  them  in  the  night  but 
When  We  went  there  it  Was  a  false  a  larm  and  We  Ware  forst  to 
ly  under  our  arms  all  night. 

Another  account  of  operations  about  the  Morris  house  and 
Fort  Washington  is  from  the  "Reminiscences"  of  Ichabod 
Perry,  pubUshed  by  the  Ska-hase-ga-o  Chapter  of  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution,  at  Lima,  New  York.  Ichabod 
Perry  was  a  nine-months'  man  "in  Capt  Philet  B.  Bradey's 
Rig't,  Capt'n  Abel's  Company."  His  regiment,  apparently 
commanded  by  a  captain,  crossed  the  river  from  Fort  Lee  to 
reinforce  Fort  Washington  as  late  as  the  loth  of  November, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  attack  was  "stationed  at  a  breast  work 
that  extend'd  across  York  Island  about  one  mile  south  of  the 
Fort."  This  was  the  upper  line  of  works,  one  end  of  which 
projected  into  the  garden  of  the  Morris  house.  Ichabod  is 
delightfully  illiterate  and  amusingly  inaccurate,  remembering 
the  commander  of  the  fort.  Colonel  Magaw,  as  "Coin.  Mc- 
Coye,"  who,  he  says,  "had  so  much  confidence  that  he  could 
hold  the  Fort  that  Gen'l  Washington  concent'd  to  let  him  try, 
but  it  was  said  the  next  day  he  beheld  the  consequence  with 
tears  in  his  eyes." 

He  continues:  — 

Agreeable  to  notice  on  the  i6th  of  Nov'm  at  break  of  day  the 
enemy  made  their  appearance  viz  5,000  from  Kingsbridge  who 
drove  in  awe  the  outposts  in  that  quarter  —  5000  more  crost 
Harlem  Creek  between  the  Fort  and  the  breastwork  where  we 
was  station'd.  Their  party  met  with  great  opposition.  While 
crossing  the  creek  in  boats  and  landing  and  forming,  the  Ameri- 
cans kept  up  a  brisk  fire  upon  them  the  whole  time,  to  great  ad- 
vantage. 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


vantage,  until  they  were  fairly  driven  from  their  ground;  there 
was  another  5000  that  came  up  from  York  against  the  battery 
where  we  was  station'd  but  they  did  not  come  within  musket  shot 
but  kept  up  a  brisk  fire  of  howitz  fieldpieces  and  Cannon. 

There  was  one  little  circumstance  which  took  place  which  I 
believe  no  historian  has  before  mention'd  that  is,  when  the  Brit- 
ish was  throwing  shells  from  their  howitzs  and  dropping  them 
just  over  our  breastwork,  we  had  a  small  dog  that  would  watch 
them  and  whenever  he  saw  one  strike  the  ground,  he  would  run 
and  catch  the  fuse  in  his  mouth,  and  hold  it  with  his  feet  on  the 
shell,  till  he  pulled  it  out  and  so  stop't  it  from  exploding.  He 
had  the  good  luck  to  serve  several  that  way  which  made  some 
amusement  to  the  spectators,  but  at  length  he  failed.  While  he 
was  in  the  act  of  trying  to  get  out  the  fuse,  the  shell  explod'd  and 
the  poor  dog  went  to  atoms.  It  is  possible  that  the  little  dog  by 
his  exertion  saved  some  human  lives  but  lost  his  own. 

He  says  they  were  waiting  for  the  enemy  in  front  of  them 
to  come  within  range  of  their  long  guns  and  at  the  same  time 
the  middle  division,  that  had  crossed  Harlem  Creek 

was  extending  themselves  acrost  the  Island  to  the  North  River 
in  order  to  cut  off  our  retreat  to  the  Fort.  When  we  discover'd 
this  we  had  orders  to  retreat  to  the  Fort  but  our  order  did  not 
come  in  time  for  the  enemy  had  got  to  the  top  of  the  hill  that 
went  down  to  the  river,  and  it  was  very  difficult  for  us  to  get  past 
them,  for  they  were  continually  making  down  the  hill  and  kept 
up  a  brisk  fire  till  they  got  within  12  feet  of  the  river.  When  I 
passt  them  (we  had  to  go  in  single  file)  there  was  a  Hessian  that 
had  got  within  eight  feet  of  us  who  fired  off  his  gun,  the  contents 
of  which  went  through  the  leg  of  Leu't  Meade,  which  wes  next 
to  me.  I  discovered  the  Hessian  behind  a  cedar  bush.  I  imme- 
diately drop't  my  gun  with  the  muzzle  to  the  bush  and  fired.  I 
saw  him  pitch  forward,  but  I  did  not  stop  to  pick  him  up.  There 
was  few  that  got  past  after  me.  There  was  two  or  three  hundred 
that  was  cut  off  and  taken  prisoners  there;  many  of  the  soldiers 
threw  away  their  packs  in  their  retreat,  and  they  suffered  for 
the  want  of  them  afterwards. 

After  we  had  got  past  this  division  we  was  ordered  to  stop  and 
form  for  action,  but  we  being  in  such  a  confus'd  situation,  it  was 
difficult  for  us  to  form,  and  before  we  could  get  in  proper  position 
for  battle,  the  enemy  advanced  in  solid  column  upon  us.  But  as 
poorly  as  we  were  form'd  we  stood  our  ground  till  they  had  got 
within  five  rod  of  us,  and  we  made  use  of  our  long  guns  pretty 
supple.  We  then  retreated  for  the  Fort.  There  was  a  little  de- 
scent from  where  we  start'd  till  we  came  to  a  small  run  of  water, 
where  I  shall  leave  all  hands  running  up  the  assent  of  the  hill  to 
the  Fort  while  I  was  refreshing  myself  at  the  brook. 

I 


12.3 


They  had  a 
small  dog  that 
drew  out  the 
fuses 


He  discovers  a 
Hessian  behind 
a  cedar  bush 


Refreshes  him- 
self at  the  brook 


124 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  grass  did 
not  grow  under 
his  feet 


His  two  compan- 
ions lost  their 
heads 


He  fills  his 
demijohn  with 


I  had  pick'd  up  a  small  Demijohn  just  before  I  got  to  the  brook, 
which  I  fiU'd  with  water,  and  after  drinking  what  I  want'd,  I 
rais'd  the  bank  which  was  pretty  high  on  both  sides,  when  I  dis- 
cover'd  the  enemy  on  the  opposite  bank  within  ten  rods  of  me. 
They  called  to  me  to  stop,  but  I  thought  it  was  no  place  for  me  to 
stop.  They  then  began  to  fire  at  me,  I  could  see  the  dust  rise  all 
round  me,  where  the  balls  hit  the  ground,  and  several  went 
through  my  clothes,  and  two  hit  the  stock  of  my  gun  which 
about  split  it,  there  was  one  which  took  off  most  of  the  skin  of 
one  arm,  but  the  grass  did  not  grow  under  my  feet.  I  got  safe 
into  the  fort  with  my  botol  of  water  where  there  was  many  beg- 
ging for  a  sip  at  it,  but  I  refus'd  giving  any  of  it,  telling  them, 
that  I  had  been  in  jeoporda  of  my  life  to  procure  it. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  heavy  fire  from  the  Fort,  for  the  three 
divisions  of  the  enemy  had  got  together  near  the  Fort,  and  there 
was  two  Frigaters,  which  came  up  within  gun  shot,  so  that  Fort 
Lee  had  begun  to  play  on  them  and  the  British  had  brought  sev- 
eral pieces  of  cannon  with  them  that  was  firing  at  our  Fort  and 
batteries,  all  which  made  a  pretty  good  rattling,  for  some  time. 
As  I  did  not  go  up  to  the  Fort  with  the  rest  of  my  companions, 
I  entered  it  thru  one  of  the  apertures.  At  last  I  found  two  men 
that  belong'd  to  our  Reg't  and  we  was  inform'd  that  our  Reg't 
was  out  of  the  Fort  at  a  breast  work  a  few  rods  Distant,  and  we 
went  out  at  the  gate  in  single  file.  There  came  a  ball  and  took 
off  both  their  heads,  the  contents  of  which  besmeared  my  face 
pretty  well,  but  my  head  being  a  little  one  side,  it  was  saved,  and 
I  went  to  our  Reg't  where  I  found  them  all  at  the  breastwork 
in  preparation  for  Defense. 

The  enemy  was  making  nearer  the  Fort,  but  did  not  come  with 
in  musket  shot;  at  this  time  there  was  a  white  flag  appeared  from 
the  enemy.  There  was  a  cassation  of  firing  immediately,  on  both 
sides,  and  our  Commander  went  out  to  meet  the  flag.  After 
about  half  an  hour  he  return'd,  and  the  word  was  past  amongst 
us  that  the  fort  was  to  be  given  up,  and  the  Troops  march  out 
with  Honors  of  War.  We  Kept  our  places  for  sometime,  and  Gen'l 
Howe  and  several  other  officers  came  in  to  see  us.  Menetime, 
we  open'd  a  Hogshed  of  Rum  and  we  all  took  a  Drink,  and  I  filled 
my  Demijohn,  which  was  a  little  Comfort  to  some  of  us,  for  that 
night  about  3  O'clock  we  was  march'd  out  from  the  Fort,  with 
our  Arms,  towards  the  N.  River.* 

There 

'  The  appearance  of  Ichabod  Perry  in  this  history  is  of  peculiar  interest^  to 
the  author  because  the  mortal  remains  of  Ichabod  Perry  lie  in  the  little  burying 
ground  of  the  village  of  Aliens  Hill,  in  Ontario  '.County,  state_  of  New  York, 
where  the  author  was  born  and  where  as  a  child  he  hunted  wild  strawberries 
among  the  grave-mounds.  The  old  marble  slab  reads,  "Ichabod  Perry.  Died 
April  19.  1839.  Aged  79  Years."  Hard  by  is  the  broken  stone  of  Rebecca,  his 
wife,  who  died  at  95. 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


There  is  no  record  of  any  general  officer  occupying  the 
house  immediately  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Washington.  The 
enemy  had  left  their  camps  in  Westchester  County  under 
guard  and  returned  to  them  after  the  battle.  General  Howe 
was  back  in  his  quarters  at  De  Lancey's  Mill  on  the  following 
day,  the  17th,  when  he  issued  an  order  for  "Major  Gen. 
Schmidt  to  march  to  Fort  Washington  with  the  other  Brig- 
ades (2)  of  Knyphausen's  Corps."  From  this  order  we  may 
infer  that  a  part  of  Knyphausen's  corps  had  remained  at  the 
fort  overnight,  probably  guarding  prisoners. 

The  Hessians,  in  front  of  Fort  Tryon,  had  done  nearly  all 
the  fighting  and  had  sustained  nearly  all  the  losses  that  re- 
sulted in  the  capture  of  Fort  Washington.  General  Knyphau- 
sen  had  led  his  troops,  and  it  was  in  honor  of  this  service  that 
General  Howe  issued  an  order  on  the  20th,  changing  the  name 
of  Fort  Washington  to  Fort  Knyphausen.  On  the  evening 
of  the  22d,  after  issuing  an  order  directing  "Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral Knyphausen  to  command  on  the  Heights  of  Fordham," 
General  Howe  transferred  his  quarters  to  New  York  City. 

Earl  Percy's  column  carried  the  works  to  the  south  of  the 
Morris  house,  and,  after  passing  the  second  line  of  works, 
marched  along  the  King's  Bridge  Road  nearly  to  Fort  Wash- 
ington. It  was  General  Percy  who  remained  in  authority  on 
the  Heights,  for  he  ordered  his  engineer  officer,  Claude  Joseph 
Sauthier,  to  map  the  Heights,  which  must  have  been  done  in 
November,  for  the  map  was  published  in  London  in  March. 
The  Morris  house  is  designated  on  the  map  with  the  name 
"Colonel  Morris,"  and  if  it  was  occupied  by  any  general  offi- 
cer following  its  capture  that  officer  was  Lieutenant-General 
Earl  Percy. 

Sauthier's  map  shows  that  Harlem  Heights  was  an  old  farm- 
ing country  from  which  the  forests  had  disappeared.  The  old 
King's  Bridge  Road  threads  the  narrow  strip  of  land  between 
the  rivers,  and  along  it  are  strung  the  farmhouses  with  their 
outbuildings;  even  the  barracks  built  by  the  Americans  for 
the  approaching  winter,  the  orchards,  gardens,  woodlots,  and 
highways  are  shown  with  great  precision.  It  throws  much 
light  on  the  history  of  the  house  and  its  neighbors.  It  shows 
the  three  lines  of  earthworks  facing  New  York,  and  that  one 

of 


12.5 


No  record  of  any 
general  officer 
occupying  the 
house 


Fort  If^ashing- 
ton  changed  to 
Fort  Knyphausen 


Earl  Percy's 
column 


Harlem  Heights 
an  old  farming 
country 


126 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  title-page  of 
an  old  map 


Published  by 
permission  of  the 
^'-RU.Hon'bU;' 


of  them  extended  into  the  Morris  garden  opposite  to  the 
house.  The  redoubts  and  other  works,  showing  the  positions 
of  Putnam's  and  Spencer's  divisions,  are  clearly  indicated  and 
afford  us  almost  the  only  knowledge  we  have  of  the  exact 
positions  of  these  troops  after  the  retreat  from  New  York. 

The  title-page  (if  I  may  so  call  it)  of  the  old  map,  long, 
like  the  title-page  of  a  book  of  that  period,  is  a  pleasant  little 
history  of  itself. 

A  Topographical  Map  of  the  North  Part 

of 

New  York  Island 

Exhibiting  the  plan  of  Fort  Washington 

Now 

Fort  Knyphausen. 

with  the  Rebel's  Lines  to  the  Southward 

which  were  forced  by 

the  Troops  under  the  Command  of 

Rt.  Hon'ble.  Earl  Percy,  on  the  i6th  Nov'r.  1776. 

and  Surveyed  immediately  after  by  Order  of  his  Lordship 

by  Claude  Joseph  Sauthier. 

to  which  is  added 

the  Attack  made  to  the  North'd  by  the  Hessians. 

Surveyed  by  Order  of  Lieut.  Gen'l.  Knyphausen. 


Published  by  Permission  of 

the  R't.  Hon'ble.  the  Commissioners  of 

Trade  and  Plantations 

by  Wm.  Faden.  1777. 

Colonel  Morris's  new  barn,  mentioned  by  Captain  Gray- 
don  as  the  building  in  which  the  captured  American  officers 
were  temporarily  held,  and  in  which  he  passed  the  night,  is 
shown  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  from  the  house  and  on 
the  north  line  of  the  garden.  An  avenue  of  trees  indicates  a 
carriageway  from  this  new  barn  to  the  house,  and,  after  pass- 
ing behind  the  house,  another  double  row  of  trees  marks  the 
driveway  to  the  great  gate  on  the  King's  Bridge  Road.  The 
shaded  lane  from  the  barn  passed  over  what  is  now  i62d 
Street  from  St.  Nicholas  Avenue  nearly  to  Edgecombe  Avenue, 

and 


The  Capture  of  the  House 


i^j 


and  the  driveway  in  front  was  along  what  is  now  Sylvan  Ter- 
race, bordered  by  the  objectionable  wooden  houses. 

It  is  unlikely  that  there  was,  in  the  Morris  time,  any  semi- 
circular entrance  flanked  by  lodges,  such  as  was  afterwards 
maintained  by  Stephen  Jumel,  as  such  buildings  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  indicated  on  a  map  as  elaborate  in  details  as 
this  map  by  Sauthier. 

"The  British  Head  Quarters  Military  Map,"  surveyed  in 
1782,  marks  these  shaded  driveways  with  a  double  line,  as  the 
smaller  roads  are  elsewhere  shown,  and  indicates  the  walks 
and  beds  of  a  very  elaborate  garden  spreading  out  from  the 
house  to  the  north  and  east,  and  curving  around  which  the  un- 
shaded part  of  the  carriageway  seems  to  pass. 


"  The  British 
Head  garters 
Military  Map  " 


128 


Fan  Kraft's 
diary  on  scraps 
of  paper 


Morris  house 
now  Sir  Henry 
Clinton's 
headquarters 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE   BRITISH    PERIOD    AND    THE    PERIOD    OF 
SHIFTING   OWNERSHIP 

H 

ALL  we  know  of  the  British  occupation  of  the  house 
is  gathered  from  the  few  entries  in  the  diaries  of 
Stephen  Kemble  and  PhiHp  von  Kraft.  Both  diaries 
are  pubHshed  by  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
and  each  is  only  too  brief  in  its  references  to  the  Morris  house. 
Von  Kraft  seems  to  have  been  a  very  quarrelsome  soldier, 
ready  to  fight  at  the  drop  of  the  hat,  but  as  a  chronicler  he  was 
wonderfully  painstaking  and  exact.  He  kept  his  diary  on  such 
scraps  of  paper  as  he  could  secure  in  a  day  when  paper  was 
scarce  even  with  the  well-to-do,  and  in  a  handwriting  so  minute 
that  a  magnifying  glass  was  required  to  read  it  comfortably. 
After  its  capture  by  the  enemy  the  house  was  used  as  a 
sort  of  summer  headquarters  by  British  and  Hessian  generals 
of  the  higher  rank,  from  July  until  the  cold  weather  came  in 
November,  and  by  the  commandant  of  the  fort  during  the 
winter  months.  Making  war  in  those  days  was  a  leisurely  pro- 
ceeding, and  the  manufacture  of  ammunition  was  carried  on 
by  each  soldier  for  himself  with  a  pair  of  bullet  moulds  and  a 
piece  of  lead,  by  the  light  of  the  chimney  fire. 

During  the  summer  of  1777,  the  summer  after  General 
Washington  occupied  it,  the  Morris  house  was  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  British  army,  then  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant-General Sir  Henry  Clinton.  Major  Stephen  Kemble, 
Deputy  Adjutant-General  in  the  British  army,  who  was 
transferred  at  this  time  from  the  staff  of  General  Howe  to 
that  of  General  Clinton,  has  left  us  the  following  entries  in  his 
diary,  which  establish  the  fact  that  General  Clinton  occupied 
the  house  from  July  14  until  November  9,  1777:  — 

Monday 


Sir  Henry  Clinton 


The  British  Period 


129 


Monday  July  14.  1777.  Lieut.  General  Clinton  went  this  day 
to  Kings  Bridge,  who  is  to  command  the  troops  on  New  York 
Island  and  posts  depending. 

Friday  July  18.  Morris's  House. 

The  Commander-in-Chief  [meaning  General  Howe]  having  em- 
barked the  preceeding  Evening,  I  came  here  this  day  to  attend  on 
General  Sir.  Henry  Clinton,  being  ordered  for  that  service  Officially. 

Saty.  Oct.  4.  In  the  morning  Sir  Henry  Clinton  marched  .  .  . 
embarked  and  sailed  by  one  at  night. 

Oct.  6.  About  Sunset  Sir  Henry  Clinton  attacked  Forts  Mont- 
gomery and  Clinton,  and  carried  them  by  Storm.  .  .  . 

Saturday  Oct.  nth.  At  night  Sir  Henry  Clinton  came  down. 
Flattered  me  with  the  prospect  of  Accompanying  him  but  coun- 
termanded the  next  day  and  ordered  me  to  remain  at  Morris's 
House. 

Sunday  Nov.  9th.  Left  Morris's  House  and  came  to  town;  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  taken  up  his  Quarters  in  Kennedy's  House. 

This  brings  the  summer  rather  abruptly  to  an  end.  We  learn 
that  Harlem  Heights  was  otherwise  called  King's  Bridge,  and 
that  the  great  Sir  Henry  could  get  along  without  the  attend- 
ance of  his  adjutant-general  when  he  sallied  forth  from  Mor- 
ris's house.  The  next  year,  however,  Major  Andre  having 
taken  the  place  of  Kemble,  Sir  Henry  sent  his  adjutant-gen- 
eral to  the  front  and  stopped  behind  himself. 

Brief  as  these  entries  are,  they  enable  us  to  picture  the  scar- 
let uniforms  of  the  British  staff,  during  an  occupation  far 
more  brilliant  than  that  of  Washington,  and,  doubtless,  quite 
the  most  pretentious  period  in  the  wonderfully  varied  history 
of  the  house. 

Except  the  occupation  of  the  house  as  headquarters,  for 
which  the  British  Government  afterwards  paid  rent,  the 
Philipse  and  Morris  property  was  now  restored  to  its  owners. 
There  were  raids  by  cowboys  over  the  outlying  lands,  but  the 
ownership  was  considered  secure,  and  the  ladies  of  the  two 
families,  who  were  attainted  of  treason  and  whose  heads  were 
forfeit  if  their  owners  were  caught  outside  the  British  lines, 
were  doubtless  honored  guests  of  the  staff,  from  time  to  time, 
in  the  house  that  was  theirs. 

We  can  only  conjecture  as  to  what  took  place  in  the  old 
house,  for  beyond  these  brief  entries  in  Stephen  Kemble's 
diary,  there  is  no  record  of  anything  that  happened  during  this 

long 


From  the  diary 
of  Stephin 
Kemble 


Sir  Henry 
Clinton  returns 
to  the  Kennedy 
House^  in  New 
York 


The  British 

Government 
pays  rent  for  the 
house 


I30 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


House  head- 
quarters of 
Baron  von 
Knyphausen 


Adventures  of 
von  Kraft 


long  summer,  when  Sir  Henry  Clinton  occupied  it  for  a  period 
nearly  four  times  as  long  as  it  had  been  occupied  by  Washing- 
ton. November  9  was  late  in  the  season  for  the  staff  to  remain 
in  a  house  of  large  rooms  and  small  fireplaces,  so  near  to  the 
social  attractions  of  a  garrison  town.  And  yet,  with  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman's  love  of  country  life,  Sir  Henry  may  have  re- 
turned to  the  Kennedy  house  reluctantly. 

In  the  summer  of  1778  the  house  was  the  headquarters  of 
Lieutenant-General  Baron  von  Knyphausen,  whom  Stephen 
Kemble  records  as  arriving  on  Thursday,  July  23,  and  remov- 
ing his  headquarters  to  New  York  on  Saturday,  October  9. 
When  Knyphausen  arrived  at  the  house  in  midsummer,  there 
arrived  in  his  train  that  German  soldier,  John  Philip  von 
Kraft,  of  the  diary-in-miniature  and  in-extenso.  He  had 
reached  the  army  of  Washington  in  February,  1778,  and  had 
applied  for  a  commission.  That  being  denied  him,  he  made  his 
way  through  the  lines  into  Philadelphia  and  presented  him- 
self to  General  von  Knyphausen,  with  no  better  success.  He 
was  finally  given  the  position  of  free  corporal  in  one  of  the 
Hessian  regiments,  and  his  journal  is  a  remarkable  chronicle 
of  events  within  the  enemy's  lines,  between  March,  1776,  and 
November,  1783,  when,  during  much  of  the  time,  he  was  en- 
camped on  Harlem  Heights,  not  far  from  the  Morris  house. 
The  first  mention  Von  Kraft  makes  of  this  house  in  his  diary 
is:  — 

July.  Satyr.  1778.  At  8  a.m.  I  marched  with  10  privates  to 
what  was  called  the  Morris  House,  where  his  Ex'c'y  General  von 
Knyphausen  lived  and  where  the  Chasseur  Company  was  to  ren- 
dezvous. 

The  journal  makes  no  further  mention  of  the  house  until 
the  9th  of  December.  Von  Kraft  does  not  forget  to  tell  us  of  his 
love-making,  and  of  robbing  cherry  trees  on  later  July  days, 
as  he  came  back  from  making  purchases  in  New  York,  or  of 
frequent  challenges  to  fist  fights,  behind  the  barracks,  which 
were  decided  by  Marquis  of  Queensberry  rules.  On  the  9th 
he  says:  — 

At  sunsett  this  evening  I  was  on  active  picket  with  6  privates 
in  No  I  back  of  what  was  called  General  Knypphaussen's  Quarters, 
Morris  House. 

On 


The  British  Period 


131 


On  December  21st  he  was  on  "field  picket  behind  Morris 
House."  No  mention  is  made  by  Von  Kraft  of  the  Morris 
house  during  the  year  1779,  and  no  light  is  thrown  on  the  ques- 
tion of  who  occupied  it.  In  November,  1780,  we  find  General 
von  Lossberg  in  possession.  Von  Kraft  says :  — 

22.  Nov.  Frid.  On  working  command  with  1 1  privates  at  Mor- 
isini.  (Indexed  by  the  N.Y.  Historical  Society  as  Morris  House) 
All  our  wood  for  fuel,  building  and  fortifying  was  procured  in 
Morrisina,  a  piece  of  land  back  of  Number  8  redoubt,  and  which 
once  belonged  to  a  Rebel  Colonel.  In  his  fine  house  not  far  from 
our  camp  the  Generals  ware  in  the  habit  of  lodging.  At  present 
our  Brigadier,  Maj.  General  von  Lossburg.  To  cut  and  bring  in 
wood  from  this  place  until  it  all  be  used  up,  men  are  daily  sent 
from  all  the  regiments  around  here  and  the  royal  wagons. 

Von  Kraft  seems  here  to  confuse  the  two  colonels  Morris. 
Redoubt  No.  8  was  in  Morrisania,  near  the  present  New  York 
University,  and  the  land  where  they  cut  the  wood  did  belong 
to  a  "Rebel  Colonel,"  Colonel  Lewis  Morris,  but  the  "fine 
house  near  our  camp"  must  have  been  the  Roger  Morris 
house,  for  Von  Kraft's  company,  the  Chasseurs,  had  just  gone 
into  camp  in  huts  near  Fort  Washington.  The  Lewis  Morris 
house  was  at  quite  a  distance  across  the  Harlem  River. 

Jany.  16.  1781.  In  the  morning  we  were  again  mustered  by 
the  former  English  Inspector  in  front  of  the  quarters  of  Gen.  v 
Lossberg  at  the  so  called  Morris  House. 

25.  March.    Church  parade  in  a  stable  near  Morris  House. 

I.  April.  On  watch  fort  Knyphausen,  church  parade  in  a  stable 
near  Morris  House. 

June  17.   Church  parade  in  a  stable  near  Morris  House. 

8.  Oct.  This  morning  I  went  on  a  Small  tour  to  Morris  House, 
where  our  Lieut.  Colonel  still  dwelt,  to  report  a  soldier  to  him 
for  an  offense.  At  10  o'clock  the  English  prince  passed  our  regi- 
ment to  view  the  line,  where  he  was  saluted  from  the  Fort  with 
several  guns. 

1782.  28.  Oct.  Mon.  At  8  o'clock  this  morning  the  English 
Dragoons,  all  the  Hessian  Yagers  and  the  Hanan  Free  Corps  had 
left  their  camps  and  marched  as  far  as  Morritz  House,  when  they 
again  encamped  until  further  orders. 

16.  Nov.  Sun.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Morris  House  I  found 
on  the  road  a  new  black  silk  woman's  Scarf  with  beautiful  lace. 

In  the  winter  of  1780  the  Morris  house  was  an  alarm  sta- 
tion, watched  by  night  from  the  city  for  rockets  which,  follow- 
ing 


General  von 
Lossberg  at  the 
Morris  house 


The  wood 

belonged  to  a 

^^  Rebel  Colonel" 


Church  parade 
in  a  stable 


Von  Kraft  finds 
a  scarf  with 
beautiful  lace 


M^' 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  Clinton 
returns  to  the 
Kennedy  house 


Description  of  a 
Hessian 


^'■Bloody  News ! 
Bloody  News  !  " 


ing  the  guns  at  the  fort,  would  indicate  the  direction  of  an 
attack.  One  rocket  would  mean  that  Fort  Knyphausen  was 
attacked  from  the  front,  two  that  the  attack  was  from  the 
North  River,  and  three  that  the  attack  was  from  Harlem 
Creek. 

General  Clinton's  headquarters  after  he  left  the  Morris 
house,  in  the  fall  of  1777,  was  at  the  Kennedy  house,  which 
stood  alone  looking  out  on  the  ruins  of  the  burned  district, 
the  last  house  and  the  first  house  on  Broadway.  It  had  itself 
escaped  the  fire  by  a  miracle,  and  desolate  as  the  street  was  up 
to  and  beyond  the  walls  of  Trinity  Church,  its  west  side  con- 
tinued to  be  the  Mall  where  the  beaux  and  belles  walked  in  the 
afternoon. 

William  Dunlap,  in  his  "  History  of  the  American  Stage," 
gives  us  a  vivid  picture  of  New  York  City  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. It  was  altogether  in  the  hands  of  the  military.  Dress 
parade  took  place  every  evening  on  the  street  in  front  of  the 
ruins  of  Trinity  Church,  to  the  music  of  a  military  band  lo- 
cated among  the  tombstones.  Dunlap  says :  — 

Here  might  be  seen  the  Hessian  with  his  towering  brass  fronted 
cap,  mustacios  coloured  with  the  same  material  that  coloured  his 
shoes,  his  hair  plastered  with  tallow  and  flour,  and  tightly  drawn 
into  a  long  appendage  reaching  from  the  back  of  his  head  to  his 
waist,  his  blue  uniform  almost  covered  by  the  broad  belts  sus- 
taining his  cartouche  box,  his  brass  hiked  sword  and  his  bayonet; 
a  yellow  waistcoat  with  flaps  and  yellow  breeches  were  met  at 
the  knee  by  black  gaiters,  and  thus  heavily  equipped,  he  stood 
at  attention,  and  received  the  command  or  cane  of  the  officer 
who  inspected  him. 

The  Highlanders  and  the  Yagers  were  equally  in  evidence 
in  their  highly  colored  uniforms,  and  the  street  rabble  looked 
on  from  the  ruins,  and,  gathering  inspiration,  scurried  away 
to  fight  battles  on  their  own  account. 

Rivington's  printing  office  was  at  the  corner  of  Queen  Street 
and  Pearl,  above  the  principal  bookstore  of  the  city,  which 
occupied  the  ground  floor,  and  when  a  fresh  batch  of  gazettes 
was  released  from  the  hand  press  upstairs,  the  news  venders 
came  screaming  upon  the  street :  "  Bloody  News !  Bloody  News ! 
Where  are  the  Rebels  now?"  The  Sugar  House  Prison  was 
on  Crown  Street,  its  small  windows  filled,  tier  above  tier,  with 

the 


The  British  Period 


133 


the  heads  of  prisoners  struggling  to  inhale  a  breath  of  fresh  air, 
and  adjoining  to  it  a  company  of  dragoons  was  clattering  in 
through  the  entrance  porch  of  the  old  Dutch  church  for  exer- 
cise in  its  riding-school. 

While  Dunlap  adds  nothing  to  the  story  we  already  have  of 
the  fire,  he  gives  us  an  interesting  picture  of  the  burned  district 
and  the  use  to  which  it  was  put.   He  says:  — 

Thus,  a  great  portion  of  what  was  then  New  York  was  left  for 
years  a  mass  of  black  unsightly  rubbish.  .  .  .  The  walls  and 
chimneys  left  by  the  first  mentioned  fire  served  the  lowest  fol- 
lowers of  the  army  for  shelter,  by  the  aid  of  refuse  boards,  half 
burned  beams,  poles  and  pieces  of  sail  cloth,  and  the  filthy  con- 
gregation of  vile  materials,  went  by  the  name  of  Canvass-town. 
This  place  of  refuge  for  drunkenness,  prostitution  and  violence, 
was  the  resort  of  the  sailors  from  the  ships  in  the  harbour,  of  ne- 
groes who  fled  from  the  neighboring  provinces,  and  others  brought 
from  the  south  by  the  troops  in  their  southern  expeditions.  Can- 
vass-town was  the  Wapping,  the  St.  Giles  and  the  Five  Points 
of  the  desolated,  garrisoned  city. 

There  existed  no  brick  houses  beyond  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  ex- 
cept two  two-story  buildings  since  enlarged  to  three  stories:  be- 
yond to  the  north  were  wooden  houses,  inhabited  by  those  who 
were  allied  in  theory  and  practice  to  the  inmates  of  Canvass- 
town,  excepting  two  public  houses,  one  having  a  billiard  table  in 
its  front  apartments,  and  behind  it  the  Five  Alley  made  notorious, 
not  to  say  famous,  as  the  daily  resort  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  and 
his  cortege.  The  Commander-in-Chief  we  presume,  after  the 
hour  of  morning  business,  was  seen  galloping  from  his  headquar- 
ters near  the  fort  up  Broadway,  to  his  five-alley,  and  after  exer- 
cising there,  he  again  mounted  and  galloped  like  a  sportsman  at 
a  fox-chase,  out  of  town  and  in  again,  followed  at  full  speed  by 
his  aides  and  favorites. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  the  First  Congress  had 
laid  a  heavy  hand  upon  the  frivolity  of  the  towns.  Dancing 
and  gaming  were  taboo,  and  the  theaters  were  specially  legis- 
lated out  of  business.  With  the  occupation  by  the  British  all 
this  changed.  The  ballroom  at  the  City  Tavern  and  the 
theater  in  John  Street  came  into  their  own  again.  The  young 
officers  of  the  army  soon  formed  themselves  into  a  dramatic 
company,  of  which  Dr.  Beaumont,  Surgeon-General  of  the  Brit- 
ish army,  was  the  first  manager  and  the  principal  low  come- 
dian. The  theater  was  renamed  the  "Theater  Royal."  Captain 
Oliver  De  Lancey,  of  the  Seventeenth  Dragoons,  and  Major 

Andre 


The  story  of 
Canvass-town 


Congress  laid  a 
heavy  hand  on 
frivolity 


134 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Major  Andre 
painted  the 
scenery 


Tickets  at  the 
sign  of  the  Bible 
and  Croivn 


The  Morris 
farm  changes 
titles 


Andre  painted  the  scenery,  assisted  by  Mr.  Thomas  Barron, 
who  had  been  a  coach  painter.  Major  WilUams  was  the  hero 
of  tragedy,  and  Captain  Bradden,  of  the  Fifteenth  Foot,  Lieu- 
tenant Pennefeather,  Captain  Phipps,  and  Captain  Stanley 
were  favorites  among  the  actors.  The  young  gentlemen  of  the 
army  took  the  female  parts  at  first,  and  actresses  were  found 
afterwards,  for  the  theater  was  regularly  established  and  con- 
tinued to  give  performances  during  the  winter  season  as  long  as 
the  British  occupied  the  city.  The  receipts  beyond  the  running 
expenses  were  devoted  to  charity,  and  the  music  was  furnished, 
at  one  period,  by  fourteen  musicians  selected  from  the  mili- 
tary bands,  who  were  paid  a  dollar  a  night.  Tickets  were  to  be 
had  at  Hugh  Gaine's,  at  the  sign  of  the  Bible  and  Crown. 

The  peace  that  followed  the  British  occupation  of  the  house 
saw  the  hasty  departure  of  the  Morris  and  Philipse  families 
and  the  speedy  confiscation  of  their  estates.  The  Morris  farm 
at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  contained  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen acres.  After  peace  was  declared,  the  Commissioners  of 
Forfeiture,  Messrs.  Isaac  Stoutenburgh  and  Philip  Van  Cort- 
landt,  sold  it  on  the  9th  of  July,  1784,  to  John  Berrian  and 
Isaac  Ledyard  for  the  sum  of  twenty-two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  On  August  15,  1791,  the  executors  of  John  Berrian 
sold  his  one  half  to  Anthony  L.  Bleecker  for  one  thousand 
pounds.  In  the  same  year  the  one  half  belonging  to  Isaac 
Ledyard  passed  to  Theodore  Hopkins  and  Michael  Joy. 
Neither  the  method  of  transfer  nor  the  consideration  paid  is 
mentioned  in  the  records  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 
On  February  i,  1792,  Hopkins  and  Joy  sold  their  one  half  of 
the  Morris  farm  to  Anthony  L.  Bleecker  for  one  thousand 
pounds,  which  returned  the  title  to  America  and  made  An- 
thony Bleecker  the  sole  owner  of  the  farm.  A  few  years  later, 
however  (the  time  and  the  consideration  not  mentioned),  he 
sold  to  one  William  Kenyon.  On  August  29,  1799,  William 
Kenyon,  in  turn,  sold  the  farm  to  Leonard  Parkinson,  the 
price  indicating  that  the  whole  property  had  been  passing 
from  hand  to  hand  and  that  the  Morris  farm  was  still  intact 
in  the  last  year  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  the  sale  to  Park- 
inson the  title  had  again  crossed  the  sea. 

The  Philipse  manor  was  confiscated  and  sold  with  the 

Morris 


The  British  Period 


I'X 


35 


Morris  property.  The  two  families  having  returned  to  England, 
it  was  finally  held  by  the  English  courts  that  the  act  of  attain- 
der for  treason  against  the  elders  would  not  bar  their  children 
from  inheriting.  This  decision  was  so  far  accepted  in  America 
as  to  render  doubtful  all  the  titles  on  manor  property  which 
embraced  farms,  villages,  and  towns.  In  this  peculiar  situa- 
tion, John  Jacob  Astor  saw  a  golden  opportunity.  In  1809 
he  bought  the  rights  of  the  heirs,  with  legal  power  to  transfer, 
for  twenty  thousand  pounds,  for  which  the  State  of  New  York, 
in  1828,  paid  him  a  half-million  dollars. 

From  the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  the  purchase  of  the 
property  by  Stephen  Jumel,  the  old  house,  for  a  period  of 
nearly  thirty  years,  was  by  turns  tavern  with  swinging  sign 
and  humble  farmhouse.  In  1787,  it  was  Calumet  Hall,  a 
roadhouse  kept  by  one  Talmage  Hall,  where  the  stages  from 
New  York  to  Albany  made  their  first  stop  to  change  horses. 

In  1786,  the  Legislature  granted  to  Isaac  Wyck,  Talmage 
Hall,  and  John  Kenney,  all  Columbia  County  men,  the  ex- 
clusive right  "to  set  up  and  carry  on,  and  drive  stage  waggons" 
between  New  York  and  Albany,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river, 
for  a  period  often  years,  forbidding  all  opposition  to  them  under 
penalty  of  two  hundred  pounds. 

The  first  advertisement  of  the  Albany  stages  appears  in 
the  "New  York  Journal  and  Weekly  Register"  on  April  26, 
1787,  headed  with  a  woodcut  of  a  canvas-covered  wagon  and 
four  horses.  The  first  stage  started  at  four  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  April  16,  from  Talmage  Hall's  tavern,  at  49  Cort- 
landt  Street,  which  was  the  starting-point  for  all  the  stages 
leaving  New  York  for  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  Albany, 
and  for  New  Rochelle,  by  a  short  route  of  which  Talmage  Hall 
was  the  proprietor. 

The  first  directory  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  published 
in  1786  and  contained  some  eighteen  hundred  names.  Here 
follows  the  first  entry  under 

H. 

Hall,  innkeeper,  Haerlem  Heights. 

It  is  probable  that  this  first  directory  came  out  late  in  the 
year,  and  that  Talmage  Hall  had  secured  the  Roger  Morris 

house 


yohn  'Jacob  Astor 
saw  a  golden 
opportunity 


Calumet  Hall 


The  Albany 
stages 


First  directory 
of  New  Tork 
City 


136 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


That  very 
pleasant  Seat 


General  IVash- 
ing ton's  dinner 
party 


His  guests 


house  for  the  first  tavern  on  his  new  stage  route  to  Albany,  in 
time  to  make  the  announcement  in  the  new  directory.  At 
that  time  the  house  was  owned  by  John  Berrian  and  Isaac 
Ledyard,  who  had  bought  it  from  the  Commissioners  of  For- 
feiture in  1784. 

The  new  venture,  or  some  other  cause,  brought  financial 
ruin  to  Talmage  Hall,  who  sold  his  tavern  at  49  Cortlandt 
Street  in  December,  1787,  and  made  an  assignment  in  favor 
of  his  creditors.  He  may  have  gone  then  to  his  inn  on  Harlem 
Heights,  but  if  he  did  his  occupation  was  a  short  one,  for  in 
June,  1788,  there  appeared  in  the  "New  York  Packet,"  and 
continued  until  August  12,  the  following  advertisement:  — 

To  be  sold  or  let,  that  very  pleasant  Seat,  late  the  property  of 
Roger  Morris,  Esq.,  situated  on  Haerlem  Heights,  containing  up- 
wards of  130  acres  of  meadow  and  arrable  land,  the  mansion 
house  and  outbuildings  are  perhaps  not  exceeded  in  this  state 
for  elegance  and  spaciousness,  and  the  prospect  from  the  house 
is  the  most  commanding  on  the  island:  the  garden  contains  a 
large  collection  of  the  best  fruit  trees,  for  terms  apply  to  Michael 
Joy,  Hannover  Square  or  Cornelius  Bogart,  No  42  Beekman 

On  the  loth  of  July,  1790,  when  Washington  was  President, 
he  gave  a  dinner  in  the  old  house  to  the  ladies  and  gentlemen 
of  his  republican  court,  from  which  Mrs.  Washington  seems 
to  have  been  absent.  In  his  diary  of  that  date  he  says:  — 

Having  formed  a  party  consisting  of  the  Vice  President,  his 
lady,  son  and  Miss  Smith,  the  Secretaries  of  State,  Treasury,  and 
War,  and  the  ladies  of  the  two  latter,  with  all  the  gentlemen  of 
my  family,  Mrs.  Lear  and  the  two  children,  we  visited  the  old 
position  of  Fort  Washington,  and  afterwards  dined  on  a  dinner 
provided  by  a  Mr.  Marriner  at  the  house,  lately  Colonel  Roger 
Morris',  but  confiscated,  and  now  in  the  possession  of  a  common 
farmer. 

John  and  Abigail  Adams,  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  Mrs. 
Hamilton,  Henry  Knox,  Mrs.  Knox,  "and  all  the  gentlemen 
of  my  family,"  with  the  other  two  guests  whom  he  calls  by 
name,  must  have  made  a  very  stately  party  at  table  in  the 
great  parlor  and  afterwards  walking  through  the  halls  and 
over  the  lawns.  Mrs.  Lear  was  the  wife  of  that  faithful  Tobias 
Lear,  manager  of  the  Mount  Vernon  estate.  Even  the  caterer 
was  a  noted  patriot  of  whale-boat  fame,  who  kept  the  Ferry 

House 


The  British  Period 


^37 


House  Tavern  on  Harlem  Lane,  a  place  quite  famous  for  its 
cooking  in  the  years  that  followed  the  Revolution. 

State  dinners  were  served  in  those  days  at  half-past  two 
or  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  in  the  twilight  of  the  long 
summer  evening  the  gay  procession  of  coaches,  chaises,  and 
chairs  must  have  made  its  way  back  to  New  York,  then  the 
seat  of  the  Federal  Government. 


State  dinners  at 
three  o'clock 


138 


The  baby  girl 
whose  existence 
was  mentioned 


Providence  was 
a  village  of  less 
than  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants 


CHAPTER    XII 


BETSY    BOWEN 


1 

THROUGH  the  years  of  the  Revolution  the  baby 
girl,  whose  existence  was  mentioned  in  the  third 
chapter  of  this  history  as  destined  at  some  day  to 
be  the  mistress  of  the  Roger  Morris  house,  was 
growing  up  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  very  much  as  a 
sturdy  weed  grows  in  a  neglected  garden.  Her  story,  which 
is  stranger  than  the  strangest  romance,  may  well  begin,  like 
the  novels  of  Fielding  and  Smollett,  before  the  birth  of  the 
heroine. 

Her  name  was  Eliza  Bowen,  "Betsy"  for  short,  and  her 
parents  were  John  Bowen  and  Phebe  Kelley.  It  is  not  known 
that  they  were  married,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  a  roving  sailor 
and  a  girl  of  the  street  would  bother  themselves  with  any  civil 
or  religious  ceremony  to  sanction  their  marital  relations,  as- 
sumed in  this  case  after  the  girl  was  already  an  unmarried 
mother. 

In  1769  Providence  was  a  village  of  less  than  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  and  Phebe  Kelley  was  twelve  years  old. 
On  the  27th  day  of  that  year  the  Town  Council  of  Providence 
made  the  following  record :  — 

Phebe  Kelley,  being  brought  before  the  Council  for  coming 
into  the  town  without  gaining  a  legal  settlement  .  .  .  says  that 
she  was  the  daughter  of  John  Kelley,  late  of  Taunton,  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Mass.  Bay,  born  in  Taunton,  and  about  nine  years  agone 
she  removed  to  this  town  to  live  with  her  sister  that  married 
Timothy  Rind.  Whereupon  it  is  voted  that  the  said  Phebe  Kelley 
be,  and  is  hereby  rejected  from  being  an  inhabitant  of  this  town. 

So  Phebe  Kelley  left  Providence,  probably  returning  to 
Taunton,  and  the  next  year,  when  she  was  thirteen  years  old, 
she  gave  birth  to  an  illegitimate  child.   This  fatherless  and 

unwelcome 


Betsy  Bowen 


139 


unwelcome  infant  was  a  son,  who  seems  to  have  taken  the  sur- 
name of  the  man  to  whom,  if  there  was  any  ceremony,  his 
mother  was  married  in  the  following  year.  So  we  find  the  va- 
grant girl,  Phebe  Kelley,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  the  wife  of 
John  Bowen  and  the  mother  of  John  Thomas  Bowen. 

John  Bowen,  the  husband,  was  a  "  foreigner  and  a  seafaring 
man,"  and  that  is  about  all  of  his  history  that  has  come  down 
to  us.  It  is  probable  that  he  was  a  sailor  who  went  away  on 
long  voyages  and  came  home  unexpectedly  at  long  intervals. 
The  family  may  have  had  a  home  and  may  have  led  a  respect- 
able and  moral  life  in  Providence  during  the  next  four  years. 
There  is  no  evidence  to  the  contrary,  and  within  that  period 
two  daughters  were  born,  Polly  in  1773  and  Betsy  in  1775.  Her 
mother  was  only  eighteen  at  the  birth  of  her  third  child,  Betsy, 
and  her  sailor  husband,  mostly  absent  on  his  long  voyages, 
left  his  young  wife  to  shift  for  herself  and  take  care  of  her 
children  as  best  she  could.  In  the  struggle,  if  any  struggle 
really  took  place,  she  seems  to  have  fallen  back  into  evil  ways, 
of  which  the  court  records  of  Providence  furnish  abundant 
proof. 

On  a  certain  Monday  night  in  the  month  of  July,  1782, 
when  Betsy  was  seven  years  old,  the  house  in  which  she  lived 
with  her  mother  was  torn  down  by  a  mob.  The  house  was 
known  as  the  "Old  Gaol-House,"  and  its  mistress  was  a  col- 
ored woman,  Margaret  Bowles  by  name  and  sometimes 
called  Margaret  Fairchild,  after  the  name  of  her  former  mas- 
ter. Major  Fairchild.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  had  been 
fought  and  won,  setting  the  slaves  free  in  all  the  Northern 
States,  and  Margaret  had  been  free  for  four  years.  If  the  duck- 
ing-stool had  still  been  in  use  in  New  England,  Margaret  would 
have  been  a  fit  subject. 

On  the  morning  after  the  destruction  of  her  house,  Margaret 
was  brought  before  the  Town  Council  of  Providence  to  give 
an  account  of  herself  and  the  names  of  her  associates.  She 
stated  that  at  the  time  the  house  was  pulled  down  by  the 
mob,  there  were  with  her,  lodging  in  the  house,  Phebe  Bowen 
and  her  daughter  Betsy,  another  white  woman  in  company 
with  the  said  Phebe  Bowen,  called  "Debby,"  and  there  were 
other  inmates  whom  it  is  not  necessary  to  enumerate. 

Three 


A  '■'■foreigner 
and  a  seafaring 
man  " 


The '■'Old  Gaol- 
House" 


A  fit  subject  for 
the  ducking-stool 


140 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


A  commendable 
effort  on  the  part 
of  the  town 
authorities 


Statement  of 
Phehe  Bowen 


Fixes  the  age  of 
Madame  fumel 


Three  years  later,  in  1785,  Phebe  Bowen  again  appears  be- 
fore the  Town  Council  of  Providence.  Together  with  Patience 
Ingraham  she  is  arraigned  for  keeping  a  disorderly  house  and 
the  two  offenders  are  lodged  in  the  "Gaol"  and  their  children 
are  sent  to  the  work  house.  This  was  a  very  commendable  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  town  authorities  to  rescue  five  unfortunate 
girls  from  their  vicious  surroundings. 

By  the  record :  — 

June  27th,  1785,  Sally  Ingraham,  Susannah  Ingraham,  and  Jane 
Ingraham,  Betsy  Bowen  and  Polly  Bowen  sent  to  the  workhouse. 

July  17th,  1785.  Susannah  Ingraham  discharged  to  Mrs. 
Soule  wife  of  Capt.  Wm.  Soule;  [and  July  12th]  Sally  Ingraham 
discharged  to  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Oliver. 

July  20th,  1785,  Polly  Bowen  and  Betsy  Bowen  discharged  from 
the  work-house. 

If  they  were  then  placed  in  respectable  families  there  is  no 
record  of  it,  but  two  years  later,  in  1787,  they  were  so  placed. 
On  the  I  St  of  January  of  that  year,  Phebe  Bowen,  again  brought 
before  the  Town  Council  of  Providence,  says  that  she  is  in 
her  thirtieth  year  and  that  she  has  three  children;  namely, 
John,  about  seventeen  years  old,  apprenticed  to  Asa  Hopkins ; 
Polly,  aged  fourteen,  living  at  Henry  Wyatt's;  and  Betsy, 
aged  twelve  years,  living  with  Samuel  Allen,  all  born  in  Provi- 
dence; that  her  husband  has  been  "sometime  dead"  —  all 
of  which  she  signs  with  "her  Mark." 

This  statement  of  Phebe  Bowen,  made  to  the  Town  Coun- 
cil of  Providence  in  1787,  in  which  she  states  the  ages  of  her 
children,  is  important  because  it  fixes  the  birth-year  of  her 
daughter,  Betsy,  afterwards  known  as  Madame  Jumel.  If 
she  was  twelve  years  old  in  1787,  she  must  have  been  born  in 
1775,  and  was  therefore  ninety  years  old  at  the  time  of  her 
death  instead  of  eighty-eight.  If  this  erring  mother  had  any 
disposition  to  misrepresent  the  ages  of  her  daughters,  it  would 
be  to  make  them  younger  than  they  were  and  not  older.  It 
must  be  conceded  that  she  knew  the  ages  of  her  children,  and 
the  ages  she  gave  on  the  several  occasions  when  she  was  haled 
into  court  agree  each  with  the  other. 

Somewhere  in  the  vital  statistics  of  Providence  it  is  re- 
corded, "John  Bowen,  a  sailor,  drowned  in  the  harbor  of  New- 
port, 


Betsy  Bow  en 


141 


port,  May  18,  1786";  and  it  elsewhere  appeared  that  he  was 
knocked  overboard  by  the  boom  of  the  sloop  or  schooner  on 
which  he  was  saiHng. 

On  the  26th  of  December,  1787,  eighteen  months  after  the 
death  of  her  husband,  Phebe  Bowen  became  a  mother  again, 
this  time  of  a  daughter,  Lavinia,  afterwards  known  as  Lavinia 
Ballou,  which  was  probably  the  name  of  the  father  of  this 
child  that  came  into  the  world  as  the  half-sister  of  Betsy  and 
Polly.  We  hear  little  more  of  the  girls  until  after  their  mother's 
second  marriage,  which  took  place  in  1790.  The  vagrant  life 
of  Phebe  for  several  years  before  that  event  was  of  such  a  char- 
acter that  she  could  have  provided  no  home  for  her  daughters. 
When  she  was  not  an  inmate  of  the  workhouse,  she  was  living 
with  some  man  as  degraded  as  herself. 

Jonathan  Clarke,  whom  she  married  in  March,  1790,  had 
been  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  but  like  many  another  patriot, 
he  had  drifted  into  dissolute  ways  and  was  leading  a  vagrant 
and  shiftless  life. 

On  the  17th  of  May,  1790,  two  months  after  this  marriage, 
he  appeared  before  the  Town  Council,  a  vagrant. 

Jonathan  Clarke,  being  again  before  the  Council  for  examina- 
tion, saith,  that  since  his  former  examination  before  the  Council, 
which  was  on  the  first  day  of  March  last  past,  he  was  married  to 
Phebe  Bowen,  widow  of  John  Bowen,  late  of  this  town,  mariner, 
dec'd,  and  that  on  the  right  of  his  real  estate  in  Boston  he  voted 
there  in  town  meeting  and  never  owned  a  real  elsewhere. 

It  is  therefore  resolved  that  the  said  Jonathan  Clarke,  and  his 
said  wife  Phebe,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  rejected  from  being  in- 
habitants of  this  town,  and  this  Council  do  adjudge  the  town  of 
Boston,  aforesaid,  to  be  the  place  of  the  last  legal  settlement  of 
the  said  Jonathan  Clarke  and  his  said  wife. 

Whether  this  unfortunate  bride  and  groom  were  together 
before  the  Town  Council,  or  whether  Phebe  tarried  in  the  jail 
while  Jonathan  appeared  alone  before  that  assemblage  of 
grave  city  fathers,  does  not  appear  from  the  record,  but  it  is 
clear  that  the  newly  wed  remained  in  the  jail  after  the  hearing 
before  the  Town  Council.  They  were  not  released  and  trusted 
to  walk  out  of  Providence  with  their  bedding  and  bundles 
on  their  backs,  but  the  following  directions  were  sent  to  the 
jailor:  — 

Resolved 


Phebe  Bowen 
became  a  mother 
again 


"Jonathan  Clarke 
had  been  a  revo- 
lutionary soldier 


This  unfortunate 
bride  and  groom 


142. 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Directions  to  the 

keeper  of  the  gaol 
in  Providence 


The  hut  on  the 
Old  IVarren 
Road 


Little  David 
Hull 


Resolved  that  the  keeper  of  the  gaol  in  Providence  be  requested 
to  keep  Jonathan  Clarke  and  his  wife  Phebe  in  custody  till  the 
town  sergeant  can  remove  them  at  the  expense  of  the  town. 

Jonathan  Clarke  was  a  widower,  and  of  the  seven  children 
of  his  first  marriage  only  one,  a  daughter,  remained  with  him 
at  the  time  of  this  second  venture  in  the  field  of  matrimony. 
Polly  Bowen,  the  elder  sister  of  Betsy,  was  not  with  her 
mother  in  the  year  of  this  marriage,  so  that  the  new  family 
consisted  of  Jonathan  Clarke  and  Phebe  Kelley  Bowen  Clarke, 
his  wife,  and  a  daughter  of  each  of  the  two  high  contracting 
parties.  Betsy  Bowen  was  now  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  Polly 
Clarke,  her  step-sister,  was  probably  a  Uttle  younger. 

For  several  years  after  their  expulsion  from  Providence  the 
family  seems  to  have  made  a  home  not  very  far  from  town,  on 
what  was  called  the  "Old  Warren  Road."  It  must  have  been  a 
very  poor  home,  for  the  mother,  no  longer  young  and  attractive, 
was  remembered  by  the  older  residents  of  Providence  as  com- 
ing into  town  selling  "yerbs  and  greens  from  a  little  hand 
cart."  It  was  not  vegetables  or  flowers  she  brought  to  market, 
or  any  other  fruit  of  forethought  and  industry,  but  healing 
herbs  from  the  woods  and  fields,  and  greens  gathered  from  the 
roadsides  and  water-courses.  They  could  come  into  town  to 
peddle,  but  not  to  live,  lest  they  become  a  charge  upon  the 
town.  The  penalty  of  the  whipping  post  hung  over  them  and 
the  winters  must  have  been  hard  in  the  hut  out  on  the  Old 
Warren  Road. 

David  Hull,  as  a  very  small  boy,  remembered  driving  out 
with  his  father  on  the  Old  Warren  Road,  and  remembered  the 
hut  in  which  the  Clarke  family  lived.  The  elder  Hull  was  a 
baker  and  a  kind-hearted  and  charitable  one  too,  for  the  bake- 
wagon  always  stopped  at  the  hut  and  gave  the  poor  people 
some  bread.  While  his  father  talked  with  Phebe,  the  girls 
talked  with  him  because  he  was  little.  His  father  must  have 
addressed  the  woman  familiarly  as  "Aunt  Phebe,"  for  little 
David  thought  at  the  time  that  she  was  his  real  aunt  and  used 
to  call  her  so. 

In  those  days  Major  Reuben  Ballou,  a  butcher  by  trade,  and 
his  wife  Freelove,  a  sort  of  doctress  and  midwife  and  otherwise 
of  a  shady  reputation,  lived  in  Providence,  at  95  Charles  Street. 

It 


Betsy  Bowen 


143 


It  was  then  called  Mill  Street.  The  house  was  old  at  that  early 
day,  and  low,  with  a  gambrel  roof,  and  occupied  nearly  all  the 
space  between  the  street  and  the  canal  behind  it.  It  was  next 
door  to  the  dyehouse.  It  was  not  a  house  of  industry,  where 
the  hum  of  the  spinning-wheel  was  heard  through  the  open 
door,  and  where  yellow  strings  of  quartered  apples  hung  in 
festoons  on  the  south  wall  drying  in  the  sun.  It  was  just  "Old 
Mother  Ballou's,"  where  the  canal  drivers,  as  they  came  along 
the  tow-path,  stopped  for  a  drink,  and  where  the  tallow  dips 
burned  late  into  the  night,  casting  a  red  light  through  the 
cracks  in  the  curtains  when  the  neighbors  in  the  other  houses 
were  asleep.  There  was  the  odor  of  the  dyehouse  on  one  side 
and  the  reek  of  the  canal  behind  this  house,  but  there  were 
flowers  that  bloomed  by  the  doorstep  and  vines  that  clam- 
bered over  the  lintel. 

Phebe  Bowen's  daughters  left  her,  as  they  grew  into  young 
womanhood,  to  vend  their  charms  in  another  market,  naturally 
drifting  into  the  life  in  which  they  had  been  reared.  Freelove 
Ballou  was  a  friend  of  the  Bowen  girls.  Polly  was  twenty  be- 
fore the  family  left  the  hut  on  the  Old  Warren  Road  and  Betsy 
was  two  years  younger.  Betsy  Bowen  had  the  reputation  of 
being  the  handsomest  girl  in  Providence.  There  was  not  much 
of  Providence  at  that  time,  and  what  there  was  lay  on  a  steep 
side  hill  and  along  the  base  of  the  hill,  on  ground  that  bordered 
the  salt  marsh  on  which  the  modern  city  has  been  built.  College 
Street  climbed  up  the  hill  to  the  infant  university,  and  Benefit 
Street  clung  to  the  side  of  the  hill  high  above  Main  Street  and 
Mill  Street  and  the  Market  Square.  The  Golden  Ball  Inn, 
where  Washington  and  Lafayette  had  been  entertained,  looked 
down  from  Benefit  Street  on  the  humbler  streets  below. 

In  1794  Jonathan  Clarke  and  Phebe  still  lived  out  on  the  Old 
Warren  Road.  Little  David  Hull's  father  and  mother  had  been 
taken  from  him  by  the  epidemic  of  cholera  that  swept  over 
Providence.  David  was  now  a  little  lad  six  or  seven  years  old, 
and  had  gone  to  live  with  Mr.  Weeden,  another  baker,  whose 
shop  was  around  the  corner  from  Mill  Street.  Part  of  David's 
duty  each  morning  was  to  deliver  bread  and  water  crackers  at 
several  houses  in  Mill  Street,  and  one  of  these  was  the  house 
of  Freelove  Ballou.    There  on  his  rounds  he  sometimes  saw 

Betsy 


//  was  not  a  house 
of  industry 


Freelove  Ballou 


The  Golden  Ball 
Inn 


David  Hull's 
father  and 
mother 


144 


She  used  to  give 
him  coppers 


David  Hull 

meets  George 
IVashington 
Bowen 


The  King 
Henry  Book 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Betsy  Bowen,  his  old  acquaintance  of  the  Old  Warren  Road, 
or  he  met  her  in  the  street.  She  had  not  forgotten  the  boy 
and  she  used  to  give  him  "coppers,"  which  is  what  pennies 
were  called  in  those  days.  She  was  of  a  generous  nature  as  a 
girl  and  was  fond  of  children,  and  possibly,  when  she  gave 
"coppers,"  she  may  have  had  some  vision  of,  or  rather  some 
hope  for,  better  days  when  she  could  give  more  lavishly. 

It  was  in  1794  that  handsome  Betsy  Bowen  was  brought  to 
bed  of  a  son  in  the  old  gambrel-roofed  house  by  the  canal,  on 
Mill  Street.  Freelove  Ballou  was  doctor  and  trained  nurse  in 
charge  of  mother  and  infant,  and  she  may  have  known  who  the 
father  was.  One  morning,  when  David  Hull  was  on  his  rounds 
in  Mill  Street,  delivering  water  crackers,  Betsy  heard  his  voice 
in  the  house  and  called  him  into  her  room.  She  was  sitting  up 
in  bed,  and  she  asked  him  if  he  did  not  want  to  see  her  little 
fat  baby,  and  at  the  same  time  she  held  up  the  infant  for  in- 
spection. 

So  it  happened  that  David  Hull  was  one  of  the  first  persons 
in  Providence  to  meet  George  Washington  Bowen,  who  for 
ninety  years  was  a  resident  of  Providence,  and  for  the  last  fifty 
of  those  years,  owing  to  the  mystery  of  his  birth,  was  the  most 
noted  figure  on  the  streets  of  Providence. 

The  child  was  born  at  a  time  when  everything  was  Washing- 
ton :  when  men  had  Washington's  portrait  painted  on  their  snuff- 
boxes, and  his  head  cut  intaglio  on  their  cornelian  fobs  for 
seals;  when  his  picture  was  in  every  house  and  his  name  on 
every  tongue ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  child  was  named 
after  the  Father  of  his  Country.  Whether  the  name  was  the 
choice  of  the  mother,  or  was  given  by  Reuben  Ballou,  after  she 
abandoned  the  child,  will  never  be  known. 

There  was  no  family  Bible  in  the  Ballou  household,  but 
Reuben  Ballou  found  a  substitute,  in  which  to  make  a  record 
of  the  birth  that  had  taken  place  under  his  roof.  He  was  the 
owner  of  a  rare  old  book  whose  title-page  is  worth  preserving. 

First  Part  of  the  Life  and  Raigne  of  King  Henrie  the  IIII 
extended  to  the  End  of  the  First  Year  of  his  Raigne.  Written 
by  J.  Howard.  Imprinted  at  London  by  John  Wolfe  and  am  to 
be  sold  at  his  shop  in  Pope's  Head  Alley  near  to  the  exchange. 
1599. 

In 


The  Golden  Ball  Inn,  Providence 


Betsy  Bow  en 


145 


In  this  old  leather-bound  tome,  thumbed  and  dog-eared  by- 
two  hundred  years  of  handling,  Reuben  Ballou  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing record : — 

George  Washington  Bowen,  born  of  Eliza  Bowen,  at  my  house 
in  town,  Providence,  R.I.,  this  9th  October  1794. 

(signed)     Reuben  Ballou. 

It  was  the  birth  of  her  child,  in  the  case  of  Betsy  Bowen, 
which,  instead  of  working  the  ruin  of  a  young  girl's  life, 
operated  as  a  rescue  from  the  career  that  she  had  drifted  into. 
A  few  weeks  later  she  left  her  child  with  Mother  Ballou  and 
left  Providence,  too,  never  to  come  back  except  by  stealth  or 
in  after  years  as  a  distinguished  visitor  to  her  native  town. 
Reuben  Ballou  had  a  son,  William  Ballou,  whose  daughter, 
Lavinia,  had  recently  been  married,  and  it  was  in  company 
with  her  that  Betsy  Bowen  made  her  departure  from  Provi- 
dence for  New  York.  It  was  David  Hull  who  saw  the  girls 
board  the  packet  for  New  York. 

After  Betsy  left  Providence,  Polly  Bowen  was  seen  for  a  few 
years  on  the  streets,  and  she  died  in  the  winter  of  1797  at  the 
house  of  Solomon  Angel  in  North  Providence.  It  was  not  a 
reputable  house  or  a  very  prosperous  one,  for  Solomon  Angel 
had  to  make  a  rude  coffin  for  this  unfortunate  girl  of  twenty- 
four. 

It  is  not  certain  that  Phebe  Bowen  Clarke  was  living  on  the 
Old  Warren  Road  when  her  grandson  was  born,  for  at  about 
that  time  the  Clarke  family  removed  to  Rutland  in  Massa- 
chusetts, where  they  lived  in  1795-96-97.  The  following  extract 
is  from  "  Picturesque  Rutland  " :  — 

No  persons  who  live  in  Rutland  had  a  more  romantic  and 
eventful  life  than  did  Betsy  Bowen,  who  with  her  sister  Polly, 
mother  Phebe  and  step-father  Jonathan  Clarke,  lived  for  nearly 
three  years  in  a  "dug-out"  about  where  the  gate  to  "Goosehill" 
cemetery,  New  Boston,  now  stands.  The  family  were  driven 
from  "pillar  to  post"  by  town  authorities  lest  they  become  public 
charges. 

There  must  be  an  error  in  the  claim  that  Betsy  Bowen  was 
with  the  others  in  Rutland.  It  is  inconceivable  that,  after  the 
birth  of  her  son  and  her  taste  of  life  in  New  York,  she  went 
back  to  life  in  a  hovel  or  dugout.  Jonathan  Clarke  had  other 

children, 


The  record  in  the 
King  Henry  book 


Betsy  Bowen 
leaves  Provi- 
dence 


The  Clarke 
family  removes 
to  Rutland 


146 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


What  happened 
In  the  mountains 
of  North  Caro- 
lina 


The  plaintiff's 
were  conveni- 
ently dead 


children,  who  may  have  been  with  him,  and  the  people  of 
Rutland  were  never  interested  in  the  family  in  the  dugout  until 
a  generation  afterwards,  when  Betsy  Bowen  had  become  a  rich 
and  talked-of  woman. 

A  few  words  will  complete  the  story  of  Phebe,  the  mother  of 
Madame  Jumel,  and  her  husband,  Jonathan  Clarke,  In  1797 
they  left  Rutland  and  returned  to  Providence,  where  they  were 
shortly  arrested  and  thrown  into  jail.  The  penalty  for  coming 
back,  after  a  formal  expulsion  as  undesirables,  was  the  whipping 
post,  but  the  city  fathers  were  kind-hearted  and  gave  them 
three  hours  to  leave  town.  By  some  means  they  were  enabled 
to  make,  for  them,  a  formidable  journey.  From  Providence 
they  departed  for  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina.  In  May, 
Jonathan  Clarke  paid  a  month's  house  rent  at  Williamton, 
North  Carolina,  as  shown  by  the  following  receipt :  — 

Williamton  May  loth  1798. 
Received  from  Jonathan  Clarke  three  dollars  and  thirty-3  cents 
for  one  months  house  rent  to  this  day.  his 

Edward  X  Griffin 
mark 

Perhaps  they  were  not  wanted  in  Williamton,  or  perhaps 
they  got  mixed  up  in  some  mountain  feud.  In  September  of 
that  year,  according  to  the  local  court  docket,  Jonathan  Clarke 
and  Phebe,  his  wife,  brought  suit  against  one  Stephen  Fagan. 
The  suit  went  against  them,  but  was  entered  again  for  trial 
at  the  December  term  of  the  court  at  Williamton,  and  on  the 
court  docket  for  December,  1798,  is  the  following  official 
entry:  — 

Abated  by  the  death  of  the  plaintiffs. 

Only  three  months  had  passed  since  the  trial  in  September, 
but  when  court  term  came  again,  Jonathan  Clark  and  Phebe, 
his  wife  were  conveniently  dead,  as  sometimes  happens,  in  the 
mountain  settlements,  to  troublesome  plaintiffs. 


147 


CHAPTER    XIII 

MADAME   JUMEL 

FROM  the  day  in  1794,  when  Betsy  Bowen  left  her  in- 
fant son  with  the  Ballous  in  Charles  Street,  Providence, 
and  boarded  the  packet,  bound  for  New  York,  until 
she  is  settled  as  the  mistress  of  Stephen  Jumel  in  his 
house  at  28  Whitehall  Street,  about  1800,  her  life  is  shrouded 
in  mystery.  Scarcely  a  ray  of  informing  light  penetrates  the 
darkness  of  this  period  of  six  years,  between  the  time  that 
Betsy  Bowen  was  nineteen  and  that  at  which  she  had  attained 
the  age  of  twenty-five  years. 

Madame  Jumel  lived  her  life  under  five  names,  to  three  of 
which  she  was  entitled.  She  was  successively  Betsy  Bowen, 
Madame  de  la  Croix,  Eliza  Brown,  Madame  Jumel,  and 
Madame  Burr.  The  second  name  is  that  under  which  her 
portrait  was  executed  by  Saint-Memin  in  1797,  when  she  was 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  The  persistent  story  that  she  was  the 
wife  or  mistress  of  one  Captain  de  la  Croix  is  thus  established. 
The  fact  that  after  leaving  De  la  Croix  she  assumed  the  new 
name  of  Eliza  Brown,  would  indicate  that  she  was  never  his 
wife.  Captain  de  la  Croix  was  probably  the  master  of  a  ship 
plying  between  New  York  and  some  port  in  France.  We  have 
evidence  that  Betsy  Bowen  had  been  in  France  before  she  met 
Jumel.  It  was  a  great  distinction,  at  that  early  period,  for  an 
American  girl  to  have  been  abroad,  and  it  would  seem  that  she 
made  one  or  more  voyages  on  De  la  Croix's  ship,  which  must 
have  been  in  the  port  of  New  York  at  some  time  in  1797  when 
the  portrait  was  made. 

This  portrait,  however,  which  is  No.  715  in  the  collection  of 
Saint-Memin's  profile  portraits  in  the  print-room  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library,  is  claimed  to  be  that  of  Madame  Marie 
Delacroix,  the  wife  of  Jacques  Delacroix,  who  was  the  proprietor 

of 


She  lived  her  life 
under  five  names 


The  Saint- 
Memin  s  portrait 


148 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Saint-Memin's 
portraits  at 
thirty  dollars 


"  Mde.  de  la 
Croix.  /7P7  ' 


Madame  °Jumel 
at  the  Golden 
Ball  Inn 


of  the  Vauxhall  Garden,  and  whose  name  was  the  nearest 
approach  to  De  la  Croix  to  be  found  in  the  little  New  York 
directories  of  that  period.  Madame  Delacroix,  who  is  said  to 
have  introduced  ice  cream  into  New  York,  was  a  woman  of  at 
least  forty  years  of  age  and  the  mother  of  two  grown-up 
daughters,  and  certainly  not  the  young  girl  of  the  portrait; 
besides,  its  resemblance  to  the  portrait  of  Madame  Jumel,  by 
Alcide  Ercole,  is  unmistakable, 

Saint-Memin's  method  in  portraiture  was  unique.  He  first 
made  a  profile  head,  life-size,  in  crayon,  then,  by  a  device  of  his 
own,  he  made  a  mechanical  reduction  of  his  drawing  to  the  size 
he  wished  to  engrave  it.  It  was  outside  the  circumference  of 
this  second  drawing  that  he  always  wrote,  with  a  quill  pen,  the 
name  of  his  sitter.  After  the  plate  was  engraved,  M.  Saint- 
Memin  delivered  the  life-sized  crayon,  framed,  the  copper 
plate,  and  twelve  proofs  for  thirty  dollars.  The  second  crayon, 
about  two  and  one  eighth  inches  in  diameter,  he  retained,  and 
on  the  rim  of  this  particular  head  he  wrote,  "Mde.  de  la  Croix. 
1797." 

It  should  be  stated  that  these  drawings  were  brought  to  this 
country  and  reproduced  and  published  in  1862,  with  a  biog- 
raphy of  each  sitter.  At  so  late  a  date  such  an  attempt  at 
biography  was  extremely  difficult  and  certainly  involved  some 
mistakes  in  identity.  The  portrait  of  William  Augustine 
Washington  is  named  in  the  biography  as  that  of  Bushrod 
Washington. 

Betsy  Bowen,  under  whatever  name  she  bore,  was  an 
acknowledged  beauty  of  that  time,  and  she  could  hardly  have 
escaped  the  pencil  of  Saint-Memin.  It  is  probable  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  six  years  of  mystery  was  passed  in  Paris. 

Mrs.  Catherine  R.  Williams,  of  Providence,  author  of  a 
number  of  Revolutionary  biographies,  who  remembered  Betsy 
Bowen  as  a  child,  met  Madame  Jumel  at  the  house  of  Colonel 
McCumber  in  Brooklyn  about  1806.  Madame  Jumel  made 
some  remarks  about  Paris.  After  she  left,  Mrs.  McCumber  told 
Mrs.  Williams  that  Madame  Jumel  had  been  in  France. 

About  the  year  1808,  Madame  Jumel  went  to  Providence  to 
attend  a  funeral.  She  stopped  at  the  famous  Golden  Ball  Inn, 
on  Benefit  Street.  It  is  evident  that  champagne,  as  a  beverage, 

was 


Madame  de  la  Croix 

(Betsy  Bo-ivert) 


Ct-ocx 


Madame  Jumel 


149 


was  not  unknown  in  Providence,  for  on  the  evening  of  her 
arrival  she  appeared  on  the  piazza  of  the  Golden  Ball  to  ad- 
dress the  crowd  that  had  evidently  gathered  because  the  news 
had  spread  through  town  that  "  Betsy  Bowen,  that  married  the 
Frenchman,"  was  there.  The  crowd  was  largely  made  up  of 
boys  who  had  known  her  in  Providence,  and  among  them  was 
her  old  friend,  David  Hull.  Her  appearance  was  greeted  with 
hoots  and  cat-calls,  so  that  little  could  be  heard  of  what  she 
said,  but  she  made  it  understood  that  she  had  been  in  France 
and  that  she  had  been  presented  at  the  French  Court. 

In  the  famous  trial  of  Bowen  vs.  Chase  in  1873,  a  witness  was 
brought  into  court  to  testify  that  Betsy  Bowen  had  been  the 
mistress  of  a  sea  captain  sailing  out  of  New  York,  but  he  was 
not  allowed  to  give  evidence,  and  the  foregoing  is  the  sum  of  all 
that  is  known  of  the  career  of  Betsy  Bowen  or  Eliza  Brown, 
between  1794  and  1800.  When  she  came  to  Jumel,  she  was  no 
longer  the  raw  country  girl.  Providence  bred,  and  may  very 
likely  have  attracted  him  with  some  taking  French  ways  and  a 
smattering  of  the  language  that  was  his  own. 

Whatever  other  names  she  may  have  borne  in  that  checkered 
interim,  she  seems  to  have  returned  to  her  maiden  name,  with 
a  slight  variation,  when  she  became  interested  in  Stephen  Jumel. 
Eliza  Brown  was  a  plain  name,  but  convenient  to  separate  her 
from  her  career  in  Providence,  and  from  her  unfortunate  family 
history.  In  1800,  M.  Jumel  was  one  of  the  richest  merchants 
in  New  York,  a  Frenchman  and  a  bachelor.  He  had  come  to 
New  York  from  the  Island  of  Santo  Domingo  about  1795, 
driven  out  by  the  rebellion  of  Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  his  for- 
tune shattered,  but  with  enough  of  commercial  investment  in 
the  port  of  New  York  to  start  him  in  business  again,  which  re- 
sulted in  a  new  and  greater  prosperity.  His  relatives  were  all 
in  France,  he  apparently  cared  little  for  local  prejudice,  and 
with  the  natural  instinct  of  an  independent  Frenchman,  he  set 
up  a  mistress  at  the  head  of  his  bachelor  establishment.  This 
was  a  bold  step  to  take  in  a  small,  church-going  American  city, 
in  that  decidedly  straight-laced  period.  Stephen  Jumel  was  not 
a  man  to  do  things  by  halves,  and,  perhaps,  the  greatest  offense 
to  society  was  when  he  provided  for  his  favorite  a  carriage  and 
horses  that,  in  the  elegance  of  their  appointments,  vied  with  the 

equipages 


"  Betiy  Bow  en  y 
that  married  the 
Frenchman  " 


Not  allowed  to 
testify 


Stephen  "Jumel 


ISO 


The  "Jumel  house 
in  Whitehall 
Street 


The  'Jumel 
carriage 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  Jumel  shipi 


equipages  of  the  most  aristocratic  families  in  the  city.  And  the 
beautiful  Eliza  Brown  was  not  backward  in  the  race  to  outdo 
all  competitors  in  extravagance  and  display. 

The  house  of  Stephen  Jumel  was  on  the  northwest  comer  of 
Whitehall  and  Pearl  Streets,  a  yellow,  double  brick  house,  of 
two  stories,  with  dormer  windows  on  the  roof,  in  the  style  of 
that  period.  Peter  Kemble  lived  at  No.  17  Whitehall  Street, 
nearly  opposite  to  Stephen  Jumel.  This  was  then  one  of  the 
fashionable  residence  sections  of  the  city,  and  had,  probably, 
lost  none  of  its  aristocratic  standing  since  Roger  Morris  had 
built  his  town  house  in  it  fifty  years  before.  It  is  a  coin- 
cidence worth  noting  that  the  two  famous  mistresses  of  the 
mansion,  Mary  Philipse  and  Madame  Jumel,  went  to  the  house 
on  Washington  Heights  from  Whitehall  Street. 

Young  William  Kemble  remembered  the  Jumel  carriage, 
which  he  often  saw  standing  before  their  door,  and  he  saw 
Madame  Jumel  occasionally  riding  in  it.  "Carriages,"  he  said, 
"were  by  no  means  as  numerous  at  that  time  as  at  present,  but 
my  father,  Mr.  LeRoy,  and  General  Clarkson  and  some  others 
in  the  neighborhood  kept  their  carriages." 

The  relations  of  Stephen  Jumel  and  Eliza  Brown  may  have 
considerably  antedated  1800.  Anthony  B.  Fountain  fixed  the 
date  as  1800  when  he  saw  the  brand-new  carriage  and  the  hand- 
some horses  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  Jumel  house  in  Whitehall 
Street.  The  carriage  he  thought  was  the  finest  he  had  seen  in 
the  city,  and  was  made  by  Abraham  Quick,  of  Broad  Street,  a 
famous  carriage-maker  at  that  time.  He  had  noticed  the  lady 
as  he  passed  on  his  way  to  school,  as  he  expressed  it,  "sitting  in 
the  window  to  show  herself,"  and  when  he  stopped  to  admire 
the  beautiful  turn-out  she  came  out  on  the  steps  and  told  him 
that  it  was  a  present  to  her  from  M.  Jumel.  Besides  being 
generous,  M.  Jumel  was  not  without  sentiment,  for  he  had  at 
that  time  two  ships  plying  between  New  York  and  Bordeaux,  a 
brig  and  a  bark.  The  brig  was  named  "The  Stephen"  and  the 
bark  "The  Eliza." 

After  some  four  years  of  this  flaunting  of  irregular  relations 
in  the  face  of  society,  which  was  indignant  in  its  disapproval, 
M.  Jumel  suddenly  married  his  mistress.  It  was  not  his  inten- 
tion to  make  any  such  concession  to  the  prejudice  of  his  neigh- 
bors. 


Madame  Jumel 


151 


bors,  or  indeed  to  marry  at  all.  He  seems  to  have  been  tricked 
into  the. marriage  by  a  clever  ruse  practiced  upon  him  by  his 
mistress.  There  were  many  versions  of  the  same  story  told 
at  the  time,  which  all  agreed  that  Stephen  Jumel,  who  had 
been  absent  from  his  home  for  a  period,  returned  to  find  his 
beautiful  mistress  on  her  death-bed,  the  faithful  doctor  at  her 
side,  and  even  the  minister  at  hand  to  administer  the  solace  of 
religion  to  her  departing  spirit.  M.  Jumel  was  awed  and  grieved, 
and  the  conspirators  (the  lady  and  the  doctor)  played  upon  his 
credulity  and  his  generosity.  He  may  not  have  shed  tears  at 
this  improvised  death-bed  scene  of  Eliza  Brown,  but  he  wished 
to  do  all  he  could  to  relieve  her  sufferings  in  this  world  and  to 
give  her  a  better  start  in  the  next.  The  woman  in  the  bed,  now 
nearly  past  articulation,  was  trying  to  say  something,  and  after 
listening  intently  for  some  moments,  the  doctor  announced 
that  she  wanted  to  say  that  if  she  could  be  honorably  married 
she  would  go  straight  to  heaven. 

M.  Jumel  was  generous;  he  was  overcome  with  grief;  the 
minister  was  there ;  and,  in  short,  the  ceremony  of  marriage  took 
place,  and  the  sick  lady  recovered  so  rapidly  that  she  was  up 
the  next  day  laughing  at  her  new  husband. 

M.  Jumel  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and,  the  civil  marriage 
having  been,  so  to  speak,  sprung  on  him,  he  was  all  the  more 
desirous  that  the  sanction  of  the  Church  and  the  approval  of 
the  world  should  be  secured  by  a  second  ceremony,  which  took 
place  at  the  old  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  Prince  Street,  on  the 
9th  day  of  April,  1804. 

Society  was  not  appeased,  however,  and  the  newly  married 
pair  found  themselves  sternly  ostracized  and  left  much  to  them- 
selves. If  either  of  them  had  had  relatives  at  hand,  the  wealth 
of  Stephen  Jumel  would  have  brought  about  a  reconciliation 
and  recognition  within  the  family.  He  had  brothers  and  sisters 
in  France  and  Madame  Jumel  had  relations  enough,  but  they 
were  of  a  class  that  would  make  matters  still  worse.  She  had 
assumed  the  name  Eliza  Brown  to  put  her  own  family  a  little 
farther  away,  and  no  social  recognition  could  come  from  that 
quarter.  It  is  true  that  most  of  her  family  were  dead ;  her  sister 
at  Solomon  Angel's  and  her  mother  and  stepfather  in  North 
Carolina,  the  victims  of  a  mountain  feud,  but  there  were  others 

left 


He  seems  to  have 
been  tricked  into 
the  marriage 


M.  yumelwas 
generous:  the 
ceremony  took 
place 


Society  was  not 
appeased 


^5^ 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Her  relatives  in 
Providence  were 
not  kinsfolk  to  be 
proud  of 


New  Tork 
society  controlled 
by  the  old  Knick- 
erbocker and 
English  manorial 
families 


M.  fumel  a 

man  of  cultivated 
taste  and  an 
admirer  of 
fVashington 


left  no  farther  away  than  Providence,  and  they  were  not  kins- 
folk to  be  proud  of.  In  fact,  they  constituted  a  menace  to  her 
social  aspirations  that  made  it  necessary  that  their  existence 
should  be  concealed  from  the  public,  as  it  probably  had  been 
from  the  knowledge  of  Stephen  Jumel. 

For  the  six  years  in  the  yellow  house  in  Whitehall  Street, 
following  their  marriage,  the  Jumels  were  not  only  neglected  by 
society,  but  they  were  left  to  themselves,  few  crossing  their 
threshold  socially.  Besides  the  irregularity  of  her  unmarried 
life,  there  was  about  her  that  vulgarity  which  comes  with  little 
education  and  with  the  sudden  elevation  of  the  base-bom  to 
wealth. 

New  York  society  at  that  period  was  controlled  by  the  old 
Knickerbocker  and  English  manorial  families,  so  far  as  they  had 
not  been  eliminated  by  the  Revolution,  and  it  was  a  much  more 
exclusive  set  than  the  "  four  hundred  "  of  to-day.  Besides  these 
arbiters  of  fashion,  the  large  middle  class  of  citizens,  which 
stood  for  good  morals,  held  itself  equally  aloof. 

It  was  with  such  conditions  that  the  ambition  of  Madame 
Jumel  had  to  deal.  Stephen  Jumel  had  as  much  social  recog- 
nition as  he  had  had  before  his  marriage,  and,  except  for  his 
wife,  he  probably  cared  for  no  more.  It  was  her  vaulting  am- 
bition that  spurred  him  to  action.  The  purchase  of  the  Roger 
Morris  house,  in  1810,  its  lavish  refitting  and  furnishing,  mak- 
ing it  the  most  elegant  and  luxurious  country  seat  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  New  York,  and  at  the  same  time  announcing  it  a  munifi- 
cent gift  to  his  wife,  was  a  last  supreme  effort  to  force  social 
recognition  for  her. 

We  shall  see  how  it  succeeded.  M.  Jumel  did  his  part  well. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  cultivated  taste,  as  well  as  an 
admirer  of  Washington,  as  most  Frenchmen  were  at  that  time. 
Having  purchased  the  property,  he  set  himself  promptly  about 
the  restoration  of  the  house  that  had  been  Washington's  head- 
quarters. Not  a  sin  was  committed  against  the  purity  of  the 
colonial  interior  or  exterior.  A  sample  of  the  old  colonial  paper 
in  the  court-martial  room,  made  in  cool  green  panels  with  a 
border  of  morning-glories  and  doves  and  urns,  was  sent  to  Paris 
for  reproduction.  The  original  panels,  lined  with  buckram,  had 
hung  from  the  cornice  of  the  great  parlor  for  nearly  fifty  years 

when 


Madame  Jumel 


153 


when  Stephen  Jumel  came  into  possession,  and  after  the  re- 
production of  the  paper  on  wood  blocks,  it  was  rehung  in  the 
old  room  for  another  seventy  years. 

In  addition  to  a  perfect  restoration  of  the  colonial  house, 
everything  that  money  could  buy  was  added  in  the  way  of 
furniture  and  equipment,  and  the  Jumels  settled  down  in  their 
sumptuous  home  to  await  results.  They  were  not  quite  alone, 
for  they  had  already  adopted  the  little  daughter  of  Polly  Clarke, 
the  stepsister  of  Madame  Jumel,  who  was  now  a  child  nine 
years  old,  and  whose  presence  in  the  house  constituted  a  very 
cheery  addition  to  the  restricted  family  group.  The  little  girl 
had  taken  the  name  of  her  father,  and  was  known  as  Mary 
Bownes.  Much  as  the  Jumels  needed  a  wider  circle,  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  child's  mother  was  ever  received  in  the  house, 

Stephen  Jumel  was  constantly  adding  to  his  landed  posses- 
sions by  the  purchase  of  adjacent  farms,  and  the  little  family 
could  ride  in  their  handsome  carriages  over  an  ever-increasing 
estate,  but  they  drove  alone  and  no  neighbors  came  to  partake 
of  their  hospitality.  Madame  Jumel  was  a  disappointed  wo- 
man ;  little  Mary  Bownes  was  budding  into  young  womanhood ; 
Stephen  Jumel  was  rich  enough  to  give  up  business.  It  would 
be  a  pleasure  for  him  to  rejoin  his  kinsfolk  in  France,  and  it  was 
not  difficult  for  his  wife  to  persuade  him  to  leave  America.  The 
supreme  effort  to  compel  recognition  by  a  lavish  display  of 
wealth  had  been  doomed  to  failure  from  the  first,  and  after  five 
years  of  isolation  and  neglect  in  the  great  house,  they  left  it,  as 
children  leave  a  toy  of  which  they  have  grown  tired,  and  turned 
their  backs  on  New  York  to  seek  in  Paris  the  social  life  that  had 
been  denied  them  here. 

The  departure  was  in  1815,  and  they  sailed  away  in  Stephen 
Jumel's  own  ship,  the  bark  Eliza,  named  after  his  wife.  The 
story  that  Stephen  Jumel  went  to  France  to  offer  Napoleon  an 
asylum  in  America  is  not  true,  for  the  Jumels  left  New  York 
before  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  when  Napoleon  was  again  Em- 
peror of  France.  The  Eliza  was  bound  for  Bordeaux  and  on 
no  more  royal  errand  than  a  visit  to  the  family  of  M.  Jumel, 
living  near  that  city. 

It  seems  to  have  been,  however,  a  very  freak  of  fortune  that 
brought  the  Jumels  to  Paris  just  before  Napoleon  became  a 

prisoner 


He  made  a  per- 
fect restoration 
of  the  old  colonial 
home 


Madame  fumel 
was  a  disap- 
pointed woman 


They  sailed  away 
in  Stephen  fu- 
mel's  own  ship, 
the  Eliza 


154 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Another  family 
tradition  claims 
that  Napoleon 
gave  his  family 
carriage  to  the 
fumels 


They  were  re- 
ceived with  open 
arms  by  the  Bon- 
apartist  nobility 


M.  Jumel  set  up 
a  fashionable 
establishment  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ber- 
teuily  Rue  de 
Rivoli.,  No.  22 


prisoner  to  the  English.  It  is  probable  that  Stephen  Jumel  did 
offer  his  ship  to  convey  the  Emperor  to  America.  Such  an 
offer  would  be  quite  in  keeping  with  the  generous  character  of 
M.  Jumel.  Another  of  the  family  traditions  claims  that  Napo- 
leon, in  recognition  of  such  an  offer,  gave  his  traveling  carriage 
to  the  Jumels,  and  that  in  attempting  to  drive  out  of  Paris, 
they  were  arrested  at  the  barriere,  the  carriage  taken  from 
them  by  the  new  government,  and  they  themselves  held  as 
prisoners  until  the  American  Minister  came  to  their  rescue. 

In  a  catalogue  of  the  Napoleon  relics,  shown  for  charity  in 
1865,  at  Dr.  Van  de  Water's  church  in  Harlem,  it  is  stated  that 
the  key  to  Napoleon's  army  chest  "was  transmitted  by  him 
through  General  Bertrand  to  Madame  Jumel,  July  14,  1815, 
the  day  before  his  embarkation  for  St.  Helena."  Something 
must  have  been  done  by  him  to  win  the  admiration  and  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  French  people,  which  at  the  same  time 
brought  this  obscure  merchant  and  his  unknown  wife  into  dis- 
tinguished prominence  immediately  upon  their  arrival  in 
Paris.  They  were  received  with  open  arms  by  the  Bonapartist 
nobility.  It  was  a  wonderful  social  triumph  for  a  woman  of  the 
antecedents  of  Madame  Jumel,  and  she  must  have  exercised 
great  tact  and  have  shown  a  peculiar  adaptability  to  her  new 
environment.  A  pretty  woman  speaking  broken  French  is  in- 
teresting, and  not  so  likely  to  display  her  lack  of  education  as  if 
she  were  speaking  her  own  language.  Jumel  was  rich,  and  the 
titled  families  created  by  Napoleon  were  many  of  them  reduced 
in  fortune.  M.  Jumel  set  up  a  fashionable  establishment  in 
Paris  at  the  Hotel  de  Berteuil,  Rue  de  Rivoli,  No.  22,  and  pro- 
vided his  wife  with  a  carriage,  which  she  often  loaned  to  noble 
ladies  who  were  not  accustomed  to  walk,  in  response  to  such 
notes  as  the  following:  — 

My  dear  Madam  Jumel  :  It  is  for  tomorrow  that  Mama  has  her 
appointment  with  Monsieur  Roy,  Minister  of  Finance.  Would  you 
kindly  let  her  have  your  carriage — which  she  won't  keep  long  — 
if  that  would  not  inconvenience  you.  She  would  be  greatly  obliged 
if  you  would  send  it  tomorrow  morning  at  eleven  o'clock. 

She  seems  to  have  extended  her  acquaintance  rapidly  with 
the  French  nobility,  as  shown  by  her  early  correspondence  with 
Madame  la   Duchesse  de  Berry,   Madame  la   Duchesse  de 

Charot, 


Mortuary  Letter 


^am,    6e   J i/  miiiwr  iSi(^. 


\'u/ui^nr_ 


nee  dlUDatticlle'  t^la/x-u.  ^  ^l6aae77iout€/t&  cJoAcpGme'  fcou^cl3t'o 
tAoondieur     OaxxAt  —  oxobe.    Cowcfoeo     <)c    let  Ucwjftie'  ,     to 

tAboMceur  olb.  tita-itu^    tyma/yt'chal'Cic-cam/i ,   lAhonJieur 

lAon/tuur  ide    -vouJ  /aire  ho)-/  a&  la  /lertc  r/i(  M  a'leowian/'  V' 

«fe  mi/fe  ae  eA'hcmJi^n/i~    le     Oomte    ^^^I'lti    ("^iXiU-bcu  De^  l^x- 
"  o^cuc^  ^  1    ^^M)m>ecnaMc'Ca)n/t ,       ^/u:vauc?-    cio   /  Ord?-^ 

^eaioit   ciAomwur ,    etc.,    etc. 

^eur  'mart ,   Acre',    rret'C'  e/  veoiffrot.' 


// 


<..',  -^r.y^U^Sa,^.  .  Ai^mM.' 


c' 


Madame  Jumel 


155 


Charot,  M.  le  Comte  d'Alzac.  At  an  early  period  she  had  be- 
come intimate  with  Madame  la  Comtesse  Henri  Tascher  de  la 
Pagerie,  who,  on  January  20,  1816,  announced  to  M.  and 
Madame  Jumel  the  death  of  her  husband.  It  was  from  this 
Madame  de  la  Pagerie,  a  relative  of  the  Empress  Josephine, 
that  she  ultimately  obtained  the  Napoleon  relics,  and  the  family 
tradition  is  that  she  lived  for  nine  years  with  this  titled  lady. 
As  the  two  periods  of  her  life  in  Paris  cover  no  more  than  seven 
years,  the  tradition  may  be  interpreted  to  mean  that  Madame 
Jumel  and  la  Comtesse  lived  together  for  a  long  period.  Possi- 
bly la  Comtesse  may  have  been  a  member  of  the  Jumel  house- 
hold after  the  death  of  her  husband.  Such  a  connection  would 
be  very  convenient  to  put  Madame  Jumel  in  touch  with  court 
circles  and  procure  her  an  entree  to  coronation  balls  and  other 
court  functions. 

The  catalogue  of  the  loan  exhibit  in  1865  says,  "His  widow, 
who  had  lived  for  nine  years  in  the  same  house  in  Paris  with  the 
Jumels,  being  in  straitened  circumstances,  sold  the  furniture 
and  jewelsof  Napoleon  and  Josephine  to  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Jumel  for  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars." 

Now,  the  Jumels  occupied  three  different  houses  in  Paris,  and 
Madame  la  Comtesse  de  la  Pagerie  must  have  moved  with  them 
from  house  to  house,  perhaps  as  a  member  of  the  family,  sug- 
gesting that  to  some  extent  she  was  dependent  on  them.  It  is 
not  likely  that  Stephen  Jumel  invested  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  in  curios  in  1826,  the  year  when  Madame  Jumel  brought 
the  Napoleonic  articles  to  America,  for  he  was  in  pecuniary  dis- 
tress at  that  time.  It  is  far  more  likely  that  the  relics  were  sur- 
rendered to  Madame  Jumel  on  her  departure  from  France  to 
satisfy  obligations  incurred  by  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  la 
Pagerie  during  the  "  nine "  years  they  had  lived  in  Paris  in 
the  same  house. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  tact  of  this  remarkable  woman,  such 
intoxication  of  social  success  ended  in  a  catastrophe.  Whatever 
indiscretion  it  was  that  brought  about  the  swift  separation  from 
her  husband,  in  December,  1816,  and  her  hasty  departure  from 
France,  it  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  unfit  for  the  ears  of  the 
child,  Mary,  who  was  allowed  to  think  that  her  dear  "Mama" 
had  returned  to  America  on  account  of  ill-health. 

She 


She  became  inti- 
mate with  Ma- 
dame la  Comtesse 
Henri  Tascher 
de  la  Pagerie 


She  sold  the  jew- 
els and  furniture' 
of  Napoleon  and 
"Josephine  to  M. 
and  Mme,  fumel 


Something 
brought  about  a 
swift  separation 


IS6 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Madame  'Jumel 
left  Parts  be- 
tween two  letters 


'•'■Bring  me  my 
lace  Vandyke  and 
my  little  Vandyke 
of  muslin  " 


Madamefumel's 
reply  five  months 
later 


She  must  have  left  Paris  in  some  haste,  going  down  to  Bor- 
deaux to  catch  the  brig  Stephen  or  the  bark  EHza,  for  she  seems 
to  have  made  the  voyage  between  two  letters:  the  letter  of  her 
niece,  Maiy,  who  but  recently  had  entered  the  boarding-school 
of  Miss  Laurau,  and  her  reply,  which  was  written  from  New 
York.  Mary's  letter  is  addressed  "  a  Madame,  Madame  Jumel, 
Rue  de  Rivoli,  N°  22,  Hotel  de  Berteuil,  Paris," 

Paris,  the  8  December,  1816. 
My  DEAR  Mama:  — 

As  the  feast  of  Miss  Laurau  will  take  place  on  Thursday  next, 
we  will  have  a  concert,  and  the  mistress  told  me  to  ask  you  to 
come,  but  I  told  her  I  thought  that  you  would  not,  because  you 
do  not  like  evening  rides  especially  so  far;  but  as  Wednesday 
will  be  a  recreation  day,  it  would  give  me  great  pleasure  if  you 
would  come  and  see  me,  and  to  bring  me  my  gauze  frock  with 
my  shoes  and  gloves,  and  my  lace  Vandyke  and  my  little  Vandyke 
of  muslin,  because  I  have  none  to  put  on;  do  not  forget  to  send 
them  as  soon  as  possible.  Give  my  love  to  my  dear  papa,  and 
tell  him  not  to  forget  his  promise  in  sending  for  me  the  first  time 
that  the  piece  of  Abraham  is  to  be  played,  and  that  I  wait  with 
impatience  for  that  day,  for  it  looks  so  dreary  in  this  place  that 
the  three  last  English  young  lady  are  always  crying  and  have  at 
last  run  away  from  the  school,  but  it  does  not  look  so  very  dreary, 
they  have  only  cut  the  tops  of  the  trees  in  our  garden,  which 
makes  it  look  as  if  they  wanted  petticoats.  As  it  will  be  very  cold 
when  we  have  to  stay  up  stairs  changing  our  dress,  if  you  would 
ask  Miss  Laurau  to  let  us  have  a  fire  in  my  room,  because  these 
two  or  three  young  ladies  that  have  permission  to  have  fire  in 
their  rooms.  My  dear  Mama,  I  embrace  you  with  a  thousand 
kisses.   Believe  me,  to  be  your  fond  and  dutiful  daughter 

Mary  Eliza  Jumel. 

This  letter  of  the  "dutiful  daughter,"  written  in  Paris  with 
a  confident  expectation  of  a  reply  the  next  day,  was  received 
in  New  York  five  months  from  the  time  it  was  written,  and 
Madame  Jumel  answered  it  from  the  mansion:  — 

May  24th,  1 81 7. 
My  dear  Mary:  — 

You  have  heard  of  my  arrival  before  this  as  I  Wrote  to  your 
papa  on  my  arrival,  but  the  vessel  departed  so  soon  that  I  had  no 
time  to  write  to  you  and  as  you  know  I  am  not  fond  of  writing 
which  will  be  another  excuse:  but,  believe  me,  my  dear  Mary, 
my  thoughts  are  always  of  you,  altho'  I  do  not  write  often.  My 
health  is  restored  to  me,  which  is  a  great  consolation,  as  I  know 

it 


Madame  Jumel 


It  will  be  to  you.  Do  not  forget,  for  my  dear  Mary,  the  sacrifice 
I  made  was  for  your  good,  which  I  hope  you  will  profit  by  it;  in 
one  year  to  finish  your  education  and  to  return  to  your  mama, 
who  loves  you  dearly.  I  am  engaged  the  present  time  in  setting 
your  room  in  order.  It  is  admired  by  every  one  that  see  it.  Your 
curtains  is  of  blue  sattain  trim'ed  with  silver  fringe,  and  your 
toilet  the  same.  Altho  at  this  distance  still  my  thoughts  is  of  you. 
I  shall  be  very  interested,  when  the  day  of  prises  arrives,  to  know 
how  many  my  dear  Mary  has  gained  and  for  what  lessons.  Until 
then  1  remain  impatiently,  your  affectionate  mama 

Eliza  Jumel. 

To  which  Mary  replied:  — 

Paris,  the  6th  7bre,  1817. 
My  dear  Mama:  — 

I  received  your  letter  by  William  whos'  arrival  I  have  no  doubt 
you  have  learned  before  this.  Papa  has  been  to  see  me  two  or 
three  times  since  his  return  from  Bordeaux,  and  is  now  making 
a  voyage  for  Italic.  Madame  Perry  has  arrived  in  Paris  with 
the  intention  of  putting  Miss  Trissier  in  the  same  school  as  my- 
self, and  has  invited  me  to  spend  the  day  with  her  tomorrow  and 
you  may  be  sure  that  I  accept  her  invitation  with  great  pleasure, 
for  I  have  not  been  out  for  a  long  time,  I  have  had  so  much  to 
do  for  the  examinations.  The  day  of  prizes  is  at  length  arrived, 
&  I  have  had  two  first  prizes,  one  for  history  and  the  other  for 
drawing;  two  accessits,  one  for  musique  &  the  other  for  writing, 
and  as  I  am  in  a  higher  classe  than  I  was  last  year  I  could  not  ex- 
pect any  more.  I  hope  you  enjoy  good  health.  As  for  me  I  am  in 
perfect  health.  In  the  last  letter  that  I  wrote  you  I  told  you  that 
the  Ducke  of  Berry  had  a  little  childe.  It  prouved  to  be  a  little 
girl,  and  the  poor  child  lived  but  three  days.  Some  people  says 
that  it  was  killed  by  its  father;  but  I  leave  that  for  you  to  judge 
yourself.  Miss  Skiddy  wrote  to  me  and  beg'ed  me  to  answer  her 
in  French,  which  I  have  done,  but  as  I  wrote  her  letter  before 
yours  I  sealed  it  without  thinking.  I  ask  your  pardon  for  so  do- 
ing, for  I  had  so  many  other  things  to  think  of.  I  hope  you  will 
excuse  the  bad  writing  for  it  is  almost  dark.  I  must  bid  you 
adieu,  my  dear  mama. 

Believe  me  to  be  your  affectionate  and  dutifull  daughter 

Mary  Eliza  Jumel. 

P.S.  If  you  would  be  so  kind  as  to  send  me  your  lik'ness,  it  would 
give  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure. 
Adieu  one'  more  my  dear  mama. 

Addressed  —  "Mrs.  Jumel,  New  York." 

These  letters  evidently  passed  on  M.  Jumel's  ships  and  were 
delivered  by  the  captain  or  the  supercargo  or  by  "William." 

Madame 


^57 


'■'■I am  engaged 
at  the  present 
time  in  setting 
your  room  in 
order" 


Alary  had  won 
two  first  prizes 
and  two  accessits 


These  letters  evi- 
dently passed  on 
M.jumel's  ships 


IS8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  return  of 
Madame  Jumel 
after  little  more 
than  a  year  in 
Paris 


The  testimony  in 
court  of  Henry 
Nodine 


The  story  of  the 
marriage  into 
which  M.  Jumel 
was  tricked 


Madame  Jumel's  letter  was  addressed,  "Miss  Mary  Jumel, 
Paris,"  and  would  never  have  found  its  way,  by  post,  to  the 
Hotel  Berteuil,  Rue  de  Rivoli,  No.  22. 

This  return  of  Madame  Jumel  to  New  York,  after  little  more 
than  a  year  in  Paris,  involving  the  violent  separation  from  her 
new  titled  friends  in  the  court  circles  of  France,  to  resume  her 
solitary  life  in  the  mansion  on  Washington  Heights,  must  have 
been  a  bitter  punishment.  The  separation  may  have  followed 
a  quarrel  with  her  husband,  who  was  of  a  very  generous  and 
amiable  nature,  and  a  difficult  person  to  start  a  quarrel  with. 
They  had  a  very  serious  quarrel  in  New  York,  before  they 
sailed  for  France,  when  M.  Jumel  seems  to  have  heard  for  the 
first  time  that  she  had  a  son  in  Providence.  The  quarrel  was  in 
the  presence  of  a  servant,  Henry  Nodine.  If  Nodine  was  a 
Frenchman  who  spoke  broken  English,  he  seems  also,  in  his 
evidence,  to  have  tried  to  imitate  the  speech  of  Stephen  Jumel, 
who  evidently  did  speak  broken  English.  According  to  Nodine, 
who  sadly  mixes  his  persons  in  his  attempt  to  quote  M.  Jumel, 
the  latter  exclaimed  during  the  quarrel:  "My  Eliza,  you  tell  me 
one  story.  You  never,  never  tell  Mr.  Jumel  you  had  one  little 
boy  down  in  Providence.  Else  Mr.  Jumel  would  not  marry 
you.  That  Madame  Jumel  then  admitted  the  truth:  that  she 
cursed  and  swore  at  him,  and  threatened  to  shoot  him  with  a 
pistol  that  she  kept  and  carried." 

The  same  witness  related  in  court  the  story  of  the  marriage 
into  which  M.  Jumel  had  been  tricked.  "You  tell  Mr.  Jumel 
you  very  sick  and  going  to  die  and  you  want  to  die  one  married 
woman.  The  doctor  tell  Mr.  Jumel  marry  you,  you  die  before 
morning.  Doctor  tell  Mr.  Jumel  one  story  too.  Mr.  Jumel  he 
marry  you.  In  two  days  you  ride  around  town  in  your  carriage. 
You  tell  Mr.  Jumel  one  big  story." 


^li 


if  w 


159 


CHAPTER    XIV 


BACK    IN   THE    MANSION 


ir 


THIS  is  the  history  of  a  house,  and  by  the  return  of  its 
clever  and  erratic  mistress,  early  in  181 7,  to  take  up 
her  solitary  abode  in  it,  our  story  comes  back  to  its 
own.  Early  in  the  following  year  Mary  had  also 
returned  to  the  mansion,  as  shown  in  the  letter  of  a  schoolmate, 
dated  — 

Paris  le  13  Mai  1818 
My  dearest  Mary:  — 

You  are  now  with  your  Dearest  Mama  looking  at  your  pretty 
little  chamber  and  saying,  O  Dear  Mama,  how  good  you  are  to 
have  my  chamber  so  well  arranged,  but  now  leave  your  room 
and  read  these  few  lines  that  poor  Selina  has  traced  with  a  trem- 
bling hand. . .  . 

Until  the  arrival  of  Mary,  Madame  Jumel  had  lived  in  the 
mansion  alone  with  her  servants;  even  the  loquacious  Henry 
Nodine  was  in  her  service  from  1817  to  1821.  It  was  a  bitter 
change  for  this  ambitious  woman.  Her  neighbors  on  the 
Heights  looked  with  a  new  suspicion  upon  her  mysterious  re- 
appearance in  solitary  state  and  were  colder  and  more  distant 
than  ever.  She  must  have  longed  for  the  gay  society  of  Paris, 
into  which  she  had  made  such  a  successful  entry,  but  time  heals 
all  wounds,  and  as  the  years  passed  she  even  took  occasion  to 
look  up  some  of  her  Bowen  kinsfolk.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
she  had  an  illegitimate  half-sister,  Lavinia  Bowen,  or  Ballou, 
born  at  Providence  between  her  mother's  two  marriages. 
Lavinia,  in  18 17,  was  Mrs.  James  G.  Jones,  and  was  living  in 
New  York  City.  This  sister,  whom  Madame  Jumel  had  occa- 
sionally visited,  had  a  daughter,  Ann  Eliza  Nightingale  (who 
may  also  have  taken  the  name  of  her  father),  and  who  was 
then  married  to  John  Vandervoort.  The  Vandervoorts  had  a 
bakery  in  Christopher  Street.  Lavinia  had  been  left  a  widow  in 

1820 


The  history  re- 
turns to  its  own 


Madame  "Jumel 
lived  in  the 
mansion  alone 
with  her  ser- 
vants 


The  Vander- 
voorts had  a 
bakery  in  Chris- 
topher Street 


i6o 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  children  at 
the  bakery  stood 
about  the  door 
and  stared  at  the 
great  lady  in 
the  beautiful 
carriage 


Early  in  the  year 
1820  she  was 
trying  to  lease 
the  mansion  to 
^Joseph 
Bonaparte 


1820  (while  Madame  Jumel  was  still  living  at  the  mansion),  and 
seems  to  have  gone  to  live  with  her  daughter  at  the  bakery.  On 
one  occasion,  at  least,  Madame  Jumel  called  on  her  poor  rela- 
tions in  Christopher  Street.  It  was  a  state  call  in  her  carriage, 
from  which  she  did  not  alight.  The  children  at  the  bakery 
stood  about  the  door  and  stared  at  the  great  lady  in  the  beauti- 
ful carriage  and  at  the  restless  horses,  in  their  glittering  harness, 
tossing  their  heads  in  protest  against  their  detention  in  such 
humble  surroundings.  And  then,  when  the  beautiful  carriage 
rolled  out  of  Christopher  Street,  they  were  too  much  awed  by 
the  great  lady  to  run  after  it  as  they  were  wont  to  do  after 
ordinary  carriages. 

Shortly  after  that,  Madame  Jumel  met  her  half-sister  La- 
vinia,  by  appointment,  on  the  Bloomingdale  Road.  She  came 
in  her  carriage  to  the  rendezvous,  where  Lavinia  had  arrived 
on  foot,  leading  one  of  her  grandchildren  from  the  bakery. 
This  interview  of  the  two  daughters  of  Phebe  Kelly  was  be- 
tween a  richly  dressed  lady  in  her  carriage  and  a  poorly  clad 
woman  standing  on  the  ground,  —  between  the  daughter  in  the 
carriage,  who  at  least  knew  who  her  father  was,  and  the 
daughter  in  the  dust  of  the  road,  who  had  no  such  knowledge. 
The  sister  on  foot  was  invited  to  visit  the  mansion,  but  she  said 
she  was  proud  as  well  as  poor  and  she  would  rather  not  come. 

These  condescending  visits  of  Madame  Jumel  to  her  humble 
relatives  would  hardly  have  been  made  if  she  had  not  been 
neglected  and  lonely  at  the  mansion.  Early  in  the  year  1820 
she  was  trying  to  lease  it,  furnished,  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  which 
indicates  that  she  was  preparing  to  return  to  France.  On 
March  25,  Joseph  Bonaparte  writes  from  Philadelphia:  — 

Madame:  — 

I  am  sorry  for  all  the  trouble  you  have  taken  in  sending  me 
the  list  of  the  furniture,  and  your  kind  offers  of  your  beautiful 
country  place,  but  since  I  have  decided  not  to  leave  my  estate 
in  New  Jersey,  I  can  only  reply  by  thanking  you,  and  renewing 
my  compliments. 

Joseph  Bonaparte. 

Two  other  letters  from  Joseph  Bonaparte,  of  much  the  same 
purport,  had  preceded  this  one.  There  is  no  record  of  his  ever 
having  been  in  the  house,  but  that  he  had  visited  it  is  extremely 

probable 


Back  in  the  Mansion 


i6i 


probable  in  view  of  this  correspondence.  There  is  a  family 
tradition  that  he  arrived  at  the  house  one  day  when  Madame 
Jumel  was  out  driving,  that  the  doors  were  locked,  and  that  the 
cook  invited  him  down  into  the  cellar-kitchen,  where  she  was 
cooking  pork  and  cabbage,  and  that  this  unknown  visitor,  the 
former  King  of  Spain,  partook  of  a  plain  New  England  diimer 
while  he  waited  for  the  return  of  the  mistress  of  the  house. 

In  1 82 1,  Madame  Jumel  left  the  mansion  and  returned  to 
Paris,  and  whatever  the  circumstances  of  the  reconciliation  may 
have  been,  the  little  family  of  three  was  reunited  in  the  luxuri- 
ous home  of  Stephen  Jumel,  then  at  Place  Vendome,  No.  i6. 
Whether  Mary,  now  a  young  lady  of  twenty,  had  remained  con- 
tinuously at  the  mansion,  or  whether  she  had  been  part  of  the 
time  with  M.  Jumel,  does  not  appear.  There  is  abundant  evi- 
dence in  French  letters  of  that  period  that  Madame  Jumel 
promptly  resumed  her  cordial  relations  with  the  titled  and  dis- 
tinguished Parisian  families  whose  acquaintance  she  had  made 
in  1815  and  1816. 

The  Baron  and  Baroness  of  Agrilly  beg  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Jumel  and  Miss  Mary  to  do  them  the  honor  of  spending  the  eve- 
ning with  them  on  Wednesday  the  12th  of  March,  at  six  o'clock. 

The  Countess  Loyaute  de  Loyaute  begs  Madame  Jumel  and 
Mademoiselle  her  niece  to  do  her  the  honor  of  spending  the  even- 
ing with  her  Thursday  the  third  of  February. 

The  Countess  of  Hautpoul  makes  an  appeal  for  charity  to 
Madame  Jumel  in  the  interest  of  a  poor  woman,  who  was  the 
wife  of  the  court  saddler,  ruined  by  the  Revolution. 

Rosalie  Pinel  writes :  — 

I  have  the  promise  of  two  tickets  for  six  o'clock,  for  you  and 
Miss  Mary,  and  besides  that,  a  cavalier  whom  you  will  find  most 
agreeable  and  who  will  be  delighted  to  accompany  you.  He  is 
Mons.  the  General  Controller.   He  will  be  in  uniform. 

From  Adele :  — 

We  have  just  learned,  Madame,  that  the  King  will  go  Tuesday 
to  the  Grand  Opera,  Richelieu  Street.  I  hasten  to  tell  you  of  it, 
because  the  boxes  are  very  quickly  sold  out  as  soon  as  this  news 
is  known  in  Society.  ...  It  is  necessary  to  engage  a  box  at  once, 
—  I  beg  Mr.  Jumel  to  do  the  favor  himself  and  I  have  the  honor 
to  remind  him  that  the  King,  at  present,  does  not  go  to  the  fine 

Roval 


The  former  King 
of  Spain  partakes 
of  a  plain  New 
England  dinner 
of  pork  and 
cabbage 


Baronesses  and 
countesses  send 
her  invitations 


^^The  King  will 
go  Tuesday  to  the 
Grand  Opera, 
Richelieu 
Street  " 


l62 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


An  invitation 
from  Sauveur 
de  la  Vileray, 
Secretary  of  the 
CEuvre  de 
Calvarie 


Regrets  of 
Duchess  of.  . 
nee  Chattilion 


Mile  Aglai 
presents  her 
compliments 


Madame  la 
Marquise  de  la 
Suze  undtrtakes 
the  conversion  of 
Madame  fumel 


Royal  Box  which  we  so  greatly  admire,  but  that  they  have  set 
aside  for  him  a  big  one  where  gather  all  the  Princes  and  the  Ser- 
vice, right  in  the  middle  of  the  auditorium  at  the  front  of  the 
theater.  .  .  . 

Madame:  —  The  Secretary  of  the  CEuvre  de  Calvarie  has  the 
honor  to  invite  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Bishop  of  Nancy,  to  be 
present  at  the  ceremony  which  will  take  place  next  Monday, 
May  23.  This  celebration  will  be  presided  over  by  His  Eminence 
the  Cardinal  of  Clermont  Tonnerre.  He  also  has  the  honor  of 
informing  you  that  upon  his  return  from  the  sacrament,  Mon- 
seigneur  de  Nancy  will  hold,  at  the  residence  of  Madame  the 
Countess  of  Villele,  the  General  Assembly,  which  should  convene 
near  the  end  of  the  month.  He  has  the  honor  to  be,  Madame, 
Your  very  humble  and  very  obedient  servant, 
Sauveur  de  la  Vileray. 

Paris,  May  19,  1825. 

Then  there  are  regrets:  the  Marquise  de  Vernon  declines  three 
dinner  invitations. 

The  Duchess  of  .  .  .  nee  Chattilion  had  hoped  to  this  very 
moment  to  have  the  honor  of  seeing  Madame  Jumel,  but  finding 
herself  very  much  indisposed  this  evening,  she  is  unable  to  accept 
her  kind  invitation.   She  begs  her  to  accept  her  regrets. 

The  Marquise  de  Maldieu  is  very  grateful  for  Madame  Jumel's 
kind  attention,  and  is  very  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  accept  her  invi- 
tation, .  .  . 

Then  come  the  shopkeepers :  — 

Mile  Aglai  presents  her  compliments  to  A-Iadame  Jumel  and 
begs  to  say  that  if  Madame  will  have  the  goodness  to  send  her 
carriage  this  morning  at  10  o'clock,  she  will  bring  the  bonnets 
and  fishus  that  she  still  has  kept,  wishing  to  show  them  to  Ma- 
dame Jumel,  who  had  seemed  to  desire  this.  If  this  is  agreeable. 
Mile  Aglai  will  be  ready  to  go  to  Madame  Jumel's  at  ten  o'clock 
sharp. 

Madame  la  Marquise  de  la  Suze,  who  was  a  very  devout 
Catholic,  was  quite  determined  to  convert  Madame  Jumel  to 
that  faith.  Her  letters  on  the  subject,  not  always  dated,  were 
written  during  Madame  Jumel's  second  period  in  Paris.  In  one 
letter  she  writes:  — 

I  shall  not  abandon  the  task  I  have  begun,  and  which  I  pray 
God  with  fervor  to  complete.  In  his  goodness  and  pity  I  hope 
he  will  not  make  me  endure  such  a  grief,  as  in  all  this  I  am  only 

seeking 


Back  in  the  Mansion 


163 


seeking  his  glory  and  your  present  and  future  happiness.  I  do  hope 
He  will  have  mercy  on  us  and  will  inspire  you  with  the  same  hope 
for  which  I  pray  in  every  petition. 

In  another  letter:  — 

How  grateful  I  am  to  the  good  Abbe  for  having  gone  to  see  you; 
I  will  thank  him  very,  very  much  when  I  see  him.  Yes,  surely 
every  door  in  my  house  will  be  open  to  you  as  well  as  to  him  Mon- 
day. You  can  come  when  it  suits  you  .  .  .  that  at  last  this  great 
task  will  be  accomplished.  .  .  .  How  good  God  is  to  have  granted 
the  fervent  and  continual  prayers  which  I  have  made  Him  for  the 
eternal  welfare  of  your  soul. 

In  a  third  letter:  — 

If  your  health  is  better  at  present,  I  advise  you,  my  dear  friend 
to  go  to  hear  a  good  sermon,  which  would  so  please  our  good  Abbe. 
There  is  one  (a  preacher)  who  has  a  fine  reputation  at  the  Made- 
leine, St.  Honore  Street;  go  there  Sunday  if  you  can.  He  preaches 
after  vespers  and  will  not  interfere  with  your  dinner  hour. 

On  July  18,  1822,  Madame  la  Marquise  de  la  Suze,  writes 
less  hopefully :  — 

So  you  are  going  to  make  a  long  trip,  madame,  and  the  great 
work  which  has  so  constantly  occupied  me,  and  must  be  still  more 
absorbing  for  you,  must  come  to  a  standstill. 

This  social  whirl  in  Paris  was  a  remarkable  change  from  her 
solitary  life  on  Washington  Heights,  and  brilliant  enough  to 
turn  the  head  of  a  steadier  woman  than  Madame  Jumel.  Hav- 
ing climbed  so  high  there  was  yet  one  thing  lacking  —  she 
aspired  to  a  title.  Her  letter  to  Louis  XVIII  seems  to  be  a  draft, 
not  in  her  handwriting,  prepared  for  engrossing  and  beribbon- 
ing  and  made  fit  to  be  received  in  the  cabinet  of  a  king.  It  is 
neither  signed  nor  dated. 

Sire: — 

Every  time  I  have  had  the  honor  of  seeing  your  Majesty,  the 
graciousness  with  which  you  have  deigned  to  notice  my  carriage, 
and  the  great  kindness  with  which  you  bow  to  me,  makes  me  feel 
like  writing  to  you.  But  once  out  of  your  presence,  courage  fails 
me.  The  return  of  your  Majesty  —  day  I  have  so  ardently 
wished  for  —  caused  me  so  much  joy  that  I  seemed  to  be  inspired 
with  new  courage  to  present  a  petition  in  favor  of  my  husband. 

My  husband  left  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution 
and  established  a  home  in  New  York  (U.S.A.)  with  the  resolution 
of  never  again  seeing  his  native  land  until  the  return  of  the  Bour- 
bons. 


"  How  grateful 
I  am  to  the  good 
Abbe  for  having 
gone  to  see  you" 


"  He  preaches 
after  vespers  and 
will  not  interfere 
with  your  dinner 
hour  " 


She  writes  to 
Louis  XVIII— 
'■'■you  have 
deigned  to  notice 
my  carriage  " 


164 


^'^  He  was  the 
first  to -introduce 
La  Soiree  at 
wholesale  in  the 
United  States  " 


When  he  heard 
the  news  of  the 
return  of  the 
Bourbons^  he 
made  haste  to 
sell  his  ships 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  fumel 
establishment 
was  now  Place 
Vendome^No.  16 


bons.  He  became  a  merchant  and  has  been  very  fortunate  in  his 
business,  becoming  one  of  the  most  influential  men  in  New  York. 
He  is  so  patriotic  that  he  has  been  unwilling  to  have  commercial 
relations  anywhere  except  with  France.  He  was  the  first  to  in- 
troduce La  Soiree  at  wholesale  in  the  United  States,  and  in  do- 
ing this  has  created  a  demand  for  French  merchandise,  in  con- 
sequence bringing  about  an  enormous  trade,  so  that  the  most 
celebrated  manufacturers  of  France  have  worked  for  him  and 
have  sent  millions  .  .  .  through  his  business. 

He  has  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  two  of  his  ships,  all  loaded, 
which  were  seized  by  Napoleon  and  held  at  the  Port  of  Bayonne 

—  for  which  he  has  never  been  reimbursed. 

His  kindness  of  heart  and  his  directness  in  business  have  made 
him  known  and  loved  throughout  the  United  States.  He  has 
frequently  been  offered  very  honorable  and  lucrative  positions, 
which  he  has  always  refused,  saying  he  still  hoped  again  to  see 
his  own  country. 

What  a  joyous  day  for  him  when  he  got  the  news  of  the  return 
of  the  Bourbons.  Immediately  he  made  haste  to  sell  his  ships  and 
his  stocks  and  to  leave  his  temporary  home,  which  was  for  him  a 
sort  of  exile,  since  it  was  so  far  away  from  his  dear  country. 

We  came  to  Paris,  and  he,  seeing  a  great  deal  of  misfortune, 
was  moved  by  his  kindness  of  heart  to  set  up  several  manufac- 
turers, who  to-day  are  prosperous.  At  the  same  time  he  himself 
has  met  with  nothing  but  losses.  His  lofty  nature  will  not  allow 
him  to  ask  for  a  place  at  Court  for  himself,  as  he  thinks  he  has 
not  yet  done  enough  for  his  country  to  deserve  such  a  favor. 

But,  accustomed  to  being  received  as  persons  of  high  position, 
and  our  fortune  admitting  of  our  living  in  excellent  style,  and 
having  also  the  good  fortune  —  since  our  stay  in  Paris  —  of 
knowing  many  ladies  of  the  Court,  I  often  find  myself  embar- 
rassed. When  I  see  that  I  have  no  title  and  my  husband  no  cross, 

—  in  spite  of  all  he  has  done  for  his  country  and  of  his  devotion 
to  his  king,  —  I  feel  utterly  discouraged,  and  beg  him  to  go  back 
to  his  adopted  country.  But  knowing  your  Majesty's  extreme 
kindness,  I  am  anew  inspired  with  the  hope  that  you  will  not 
ignore  a  subject  so  worthy  as  Stephen  Jumel.  Whatever  post 
your  Majesty  might  deign  to  offer  —  even  without  remuneration 

—  it  would  be  his  greatest  delight  to  fill  it,  and  your  Majesty 
would  find  in  Stephen  Jumel  a  faithful  subject  and  one  wholly 
devoted  to  his  King,  and  in  his  wife,  eternal  gratitude. 

The  establishment  of  Stephen  Jumel  at  Place  Vendome, 
No.  16,  was  doubtless  as  costly  as  his  income  warranted  before 
reverses  came.  The  two  ships  referred  to  by  Madame  in  her 
letter  to  the  King,  were  the  schooners  Prosper  and  Purse,  which 
had  been  seized  by  the  French  Government,  during  the  Na- 
poleonic 


Back  in  the  Mansion 


i6s 


poleonicwars,  as  early  as  1810,  and  had  been  sold  with  their  car- 
goes. The  Purse  had  made  port  in  the  harbor  of  Bayonne  after 
being  chased  by  a  British  frigate,  during  which  chase  her  captain 
had  been  obhged  to  throw  overboard  certain  letters  and  papers 
belonging  to  M.  Jumel.  Even  after  this  lapse  of  time,  Stephen 
Jumel  continued  his  suits  against  the  French  Government  for 
reimbursement.  Other  financial  troubles  were  pressing. 

On  the  13th  day  of  January,  1825,  he  deeded  to  his  wife  the 
mansion  and  thirty-six  acres  of  land,  which  constituted  the 
original  purchase.  This  gift  was  in  fulfillment  of  a  legal  engage- 
ment made  in  1810,  but,  made  at  this  particular  time,  marks 
the  first  step  in  a  division  of  the  estate,  preliminary  to  a 
separation.  Whatever  his  troubles  were,  the  establishment  in 
Paris  was  now  beyond  his  means,  but  he  continued  to  keep  it 
up  during  the  year  1825.  Madame  was  evidently  not  satisfied 
with  the  division  and  not  yet  ready  to  return  to  America.  On 
the  1 8th  day  of  January,  1826,  by  a  deed  of  trust,  also  made  in 
Paris,  she  secured  from  him  the  use  for  life  of  the  New  York 
City  property  at  the  corner  of  Liberty  Street  and  Broadway. 
M.  Jumel  was  princely  in  his  generosity. 

Madame  Jumel  had  secured  everything  that  the  most  am- 
bitious woman  could  desire:  a  luxurious  home,  which  was  a 
valuable  estate  in  itself,  and  a  generous  income  from  the  city 
property.  And  she  got  something  that  promised  more.  Stephen 
Jumel  had  no  intention  of  returning  to  America.  He  desired  to 
sell  his  property  in  New  York,  so,  after  completing  the  other 
transactions,  he  gave  her  a  power  of  attorney,  with  instructions 
to  employ  lawyers  and  to  sell  all  his  real  estate  and  return  him 
the  proceeds.  He  expected  the  sales  to  be  made  as  soon  as  she 
arrived  in  America  for  whatever  the  lands  would  fetch.  He  was 
still  generous.  He  trusted  the  woman  for  whom  he  had  done 
everything,  sacrificed  everything,  and  risked  everything. 

The  power  of  attorney  was  very  precisely  set  forth  in  the 
following  words :  — 

Stephen  Jumel,  by  power  of  attorney  bearing  date  May  15,  1826, 
constituted  and  appointed  Eliza  Brown  Jumel  his  attorney  to 
transact  and  manage  his  affairs  at  New  York  or  at  any  place 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  for  him  and  in  his  name  and  for 
his  use  and  in  his  behalf  to  sell  either  by  public  auction  or  private 

contract 


M.  'Jumel  con- 
tinued his  suits 
against  the 
French  govern- 
ment 


M.  "Jumel  was 
princely  in  his 
generosity 


He  gave  her 
Jumel  Mansion., 
the  Liberty  Street 
property.,  and  a 
power  of  attorney 


i66 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  power  of 
attorney 


This  was  to  he 
a  friendly  sepa- 
ration, Stephen 
'Jumel  to  live 
in  Paris  and 
Madame  fumel 
in  New  Tork 


contract  as  she  shall  think  fit  and  see  best  for  the  price  or  prices 
that  can  be  had  or  gotten  and  for  his  most  benefit  and  advantage 
all  or  any  part  of  the  real  estate  that  he  may  have  belonging  to 
him  and  lying  in  the  State  of  New  York  and  upon  sale  thereof 
or  any  part  thereof  to  sign,  seal  and  execute  all  and  every  such 
contracts,  agreements,  conveyances  and  assurances,  and  upon 
the  receipt  of  the  moneys  arising  from  such  sale  or  sales  to  give 
sufficient  release,  acquittance  and  discharges  for  the  same. 

And  I  do  hereby  authorize  and  empower  the  said  Eliza  Brown 
Jumel  to  substitute  and  appoint  one  or  more  attorney,  or  attor- 
neys for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  with  such  power  or  powers  as  to 
her  shall  seem  meet  and  requisite,  and  generally  to  do  all  things 
for  the  better  executing  of  the  premises,  as  fully  and  in  every  re- 
spect as  I  myself  might  or  could  do  if  I  were  personally  present, 
hereby  ratifying,  allowing,  and  confirming  all  and  whatever  my 
said  attorney  or  substitute  shall,  in  my  name,  legally  do,  or  cause 
to  be  done,  in  and  about  the  premises,  by  virtue  of  these  pre- 
sents; also  hereby  revoking,  countermanding,  annulling,  and 
making  void  all  or  any  former  power  of  attorney  by  me  hereto- 
fore granted  for  the  purpose  above  mentioned. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal  this 
fifteenth  day  of  May  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  twenty  six. 

Stephen  Jumel  LS. 
Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  presence  of 

R.  J.  Macy,  J,  f,  m. 
A.  G.  Barnet. 

This  was  evidently  a  friendly  separation,  by  the  terms  of 
which  Stephen  Jumel  was  to  live  in  France  and  his  wife  in 
America. 

Madame  Jumel  and  Mary  arrived  in  New  York  in  May, 
1826.  The  mansion  was  then  occupied  by  tenants  for  the 
summer.  A  little  later  she  writes  to  Jumel:  — 

I  am  still  living  with  the  Dutch  farmer  on  Long  Island,  2| 
miles  from  Brooklyn,  and  I  do  not  fail  to  go  every  day  to  New 
York,  to  watch  over  our  affairs. 

She  speaks  in  this  letter  of  some  past  transaction  which 
might  prevent  M.  Jumel  from  returning  to  New  York:  — 

If  you  come  back  to  New  York,  and  by  chance  any  one  speaks 
to  you  about  it  deny  it  flatly.  Say  that  the  whole  yarn  is  false 
and  an  imposition;  that  you  have  no  benefit  accruing  from  the 
merchandise  and  that  you  only  asked  for  the  interest  on  your 
money,  which  you  had  lost  as  well  as  the  capital,  and  that's  the 

whole 


Back  in  the  Mansion 


167 


whole  truth.    So,  dear  Stephen,  make  all  your  arrangements,  for 
in  the  spring  I  expect  you. 

I  have  made  them  give  back  all  the  old  ledgers  and  books  of  our 
old  Association,  and  one  day  when  Mr.  Israels  was  out,  noticing 
a  box  marked  B.D.,  I  made  his  clerk  give  it  to  me.  I  opened 
it  and  found  copies  of  the  letters  from  B.D.  .  .  .  This  box  was 
nailed  up  and  without  doubt  no  one  has  ever  seen  it.  It  has  always 
been  in  Brunei's  shop.  That  man  is  half  asleep  and  would  never 
have  any  curiosity  or  desire  to  look  inside. 

This  letter  is  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  Stephen  Jumel's  in  which 
he  appeals  for  money  and  reiterates  demands  made  in  a  pre- 
vious letter  for  specified  sums.  He  has  a  debt  to  pay  of  eight 
thousand  francs  and  hopes  she  is  busying  herself  in  getting  the 
money.  He  has  had  to  sell  the  dozen  "Couverts"  to  pay  his 
rent  for  the  month.  "Be  good  enough,  then,"  he  writes,  "for 
the  love  of  God,  to  send  it  to  me  at  the  old  firm  of  J.  &  D.  with 
the  running  account." 

To  which  she  replies :  — 

I  have  done  every  thing  in  my  power  to  procure  money  for 
you,  but  it  was  impossible,  money  being  scarce,  but  since  we 
have  a  house  at  Mount  de  Marsan,  would  n't  it  be  better  to  sacri- 
fice that,  rather  than  what  we  have  left  here  for  old  age.'' 

This  was  to  be  an  old  age  and  a  property  ownership  separately 
and  the  reader  should  not  be  beguiled  by  the  honeyed  words 
given  so  freely  in  place  of  the  money  Stephen  Jumel  so  des- 
perately needed. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe,  with  all  these  protestations  of  inter- 
est and  devotion,  that  this  woman  was  planning  to  use  the 
power  of  attorney  for  her  own  selfish  interest.  The  decision 
to  do  so  did  not  take  form  for  more  than  a  year.  The  first 
move  was  made  on  July  30,  1827,  in  a  series  of  transfers  that 
robbed  Stephen  Jumel  of  all  his  property  and  even  secured 
in  fee  that  in  which  he  had  given  her  only  a  life  interest. 
Her  legal  adviser  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  Jr.,  who  was  her 
nearest  neighbor,  and  who,  strange  to  relate,  continued  to 
be  her  counsel  in  transactions  she  made  as  the  wife  of  Aaron 
Burr. 

While  this  business  was  in  progress,  Madame  Jumel  was 
writing  letters  to  Stephen  Jumel  in  France  advising  him  not  to 
sell  the  property  as  had  been  intended,  urging  as  a  reason  for 

her 


M.  'Jumel  ap- 
peals for  money — 
'•'•for  the  love  of 
God  send  it  to 


And  she  sends 
him  a  stone 


She  proceeded  to 
rob  him,  with 
Alexander  Ha- 
milton as  her 
legal  advisor 


i68 


When  the  legal 
transactions 
were  completed 
Stephen  'Jumel 
had  no  property 
in  the  State  of 
New  Tork 


He  arrived  in 
New  Tork  in 
1828 


The  winter  eve- 
nings were  long 
to  the  old  mer- 
chant who  sat 
alone  in  "Jumel 
Mansion 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


her  change  of  opinion  that  the  property  had  largely  increased 
in  value,  and  was  rapidly  becoming  more  valuable  every  day. 

When  the  legal  transactions  and  real-estate  transfers  were 
completed,  Stephen  Jumel  had  no  property  in  the  State  of  New 
York  except  a  tract  of  unimproved  land  which  was  considered 
of  negligible  value  at  the  time.  Madame  Jumel  had  it  all.  The 
title  was  in  the  name  of  her  niece,  Mary  Jumel  Bownes,  but  the 
revenue  went  to  Madame  Jumel.  The  old  house  itself  was  the 
property  of  that  fatherless  child  who  had  been  adopted  into 
the  family  to  enliven  the  neglected  years  of  the  early  marriage. 
Besides  robbing  Stephen  Jumel  of  his  fortune,  the  cunning 
transfers  of  titles  were  intended  to  rob  his  heirs. 

After  waiting  two  years  in  France  for  the  results  he  expected 
from  the  power  of  attorney  he  had  given  to  his  wife,  M.  Jumel 
was  obliged  to  set  sail  for  America.  He  arrived  in  New  York  in 
the  summer  of  1828.  That  his  advent  on  the  scene  was  a 
pleasant  family  reunion  is  not  to  be  supposed,  in  view  of  the 
ruthless  way  in  which  his  interests  had  been  sacrificed.  Most 
of  our  knowledge  of  events  at  this  period,  and,  indeed,  most  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  family  history,  is  gleaned  from  evidence  in 
subsequent  litigations.  He  was  not  even  in  his  own  house,  but 
his  presence  was  tolerated  for  a  time,  until  Madame  Jumel  and 
Mary  could  get  away.  Stephen  Jumel  spent  the  winter  alone  in 
the  house  that  was  not  his,  while  the  ladies  were  wintering  in 
the  South. 

If  the  city  of  New  York  was  ten  miles  away  when  the  house 
was  built  in  1765,  it  was  still  nine  miles  away  in  1828.  The 
winter  snows  lay  deep  on  the  hill,  and  the  winter  evenings  were 
long  to  the  old  merchant,  who  sat  alone  in  Jumel  Mansion, 
brooding  over  his  wrongs.  The  property  in  the  city  where  he 
had  done  business  was  no  longer  his.  He  opened  the  city 
directory  of  18 16  and  read  from  it:  — 

Jumel,  Stephen,  Merchant,  91^  Liberty  Street. 

He  shut  the  book.  It  was  a  small  duodecimo  —  he  could 
almost  put  it  in  his  vest  pocket.  He  had  no  one  to  talk  to  but 
the  coachman,  —  his  wife's  coachman,  —  but  he  was  so  full  of 
his  wrongs  that  he  had  to  make  plaint  to  some  one,  and  he  con- 
fided to  James  that  he  never  gave  that  paper  to  his  wife  to  rob 

him 


Back  in  the  Mansion 


169 


him  with.  But  it  was  all  over.  He  had  but  a  few  more  years 
of  life  to  his  credit,  and  he  would  be  content  to  have  his  living 
on  the  place.  It  was  all  Mary's  now,  and,  when  he  should  be 
gone,  he  was  content  that  it  should  stay  Mary's. 

Whatever  his  domestic  troubles  were,  the  end  came  in  the 
summer  of  1832,  four  years  after  his  return  to  America.  He  fell 
from  a  hay-cart  on  the  King's  Bridge  Road,  receiving  injuries 
from  which  he  died  a  few  days  later.  Even  the  passing  of  M. 
Jumel  was  not  without  some  unpleasant  insinuations,  which 
resulted  in  a  lawsuit  in  which  a  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Connolly 
was  defendant. 

Stephen  Jumel  died  on  the  22d  of  May,  1832.  He  was  a 
Roman  Catholic,  and  was  buried  in  the  consecrated  ground  of 
the  old  Cathedral  of  St.  Patrick,  in  Prince  Street.  Just  in  front 
of  the  iron  gate,  opening,  from  the  stone  flagging  on  the  Mott 
Street  front  of  the  church,  into  the  north  half  of  the  burial 
ground,  is  a  horizontal  slab,  resting  on  posts  three  feet  above 
the  ground,  which  covers  the  remains  of  Stephen  Jumel.  It  is 
a  damp  inclosure  where  high  walls  keep  off^  the  drying  rays  of 
the  sun,  and  where  the  summer  rains  and  the  snows  of  winter 
have  so  crumbled  and  flaked  the  surface  of  the  marble  slab  that 
only  the  one  word  "Stephen,"  can  be  deciphered  from  what 
seems  to  have  been  a  long  inscription.  It  was  a  fit  resting-place 
for  an  old  man,  despoiled,  dependent,  and  in  the  way. 

Madame  Jumel  lies  in  a  stately  tomb  overlooking  the  broad 
Hudson  and  the  flow  of  fashion  on  a  famous  city  drive.  Stephen 
Jumel  lies  in  a  neglected  grave,  in  a  squalid  quarter  of  the  city, 
where  the  narrow  streets  swarm  with  the  children  and  the  traffic 
of  the  very  poor. 


Even  the  passing 
of  Stephen  'Jumel 
was  not  without 
some  unpleasant 
insinuations 


Only  the  one 
ivord'-'- Stephen" 
can  be  deciphered 


70 


A  curious  record 
scratched  with  a 
diamond  on  a 
small  pane  of 
glass  in  the  frame 
of  the  front  door 


Franklin  Clinton 
Field  was  born 
in  the  house 


CHAPTER    XV 


MADAME    BURR 


1 

WHEN  Madame  Jumel  and  Mary  arrived  from 
France  in  the  early  summer  of  1826,  tenants  were 
in  possession  of  the  mansion.  The  family  occupy- 
ing the  house  was  of  the  name  of  Clinton,  as  is 
shown  by  a  curious  record  scratched  with  a  diamond  on  a  small 
pane  of  glass  within  the  frame  of  the  front  door.  This  curious 
record,  scrawled  on  the  glass  ninety  years  ago,  consists  of  the 
initials  of  four  people  and  a  date. 

J.  M.  T. 

G.  C.  T.  May  13th 

M.  C.  C.   1826. 

J.C. 

These  initials  should  be  read,  "J.  M.  Tallmadge,  George 
Clinton  Tallmadge,  Mary  C.  Clinton,  and  Julia  Clinton."  The 
lady  of  the  house  was  a  widow,  Mrs.  Hannah  Clinton,  and 
"M.  C.  C."  and  "J.  C."  were  her  daughters,  Mary  C.  Clinton 
and  Julia  Clinton.  The  two  young  gentlemen  of  the  name  of 
Tallmadge  were  cousins  of  the  girls  and  guests  of  the  family. 
There  was  probably  a  deal  of  sentiment  underlying  the  letters 
on  the  window,  if  they  were  not  actually  scratched  with  the 
engagement  ring  of  Miss  Julia,  for  she  was  afterwards  the  wife 
of  George  Clinton  Tallmadge. 

The  family  of  Moses  Field  occupied  the  house  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1825,  the  summer  preceding  the  occupation  by  the 
Clintons.  Franklin  Clinton  Field,  a  son  of  Moses  and  Susan 
Osgood  Field,  was  born  in  the  house  on  the  5th  day  of  August, 
1825.  Susan  Osgood  was  the  daughter  of  Samuel  Osgood,  the 
first  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States,  under  Washing- 
ton.  This  birth  fixes  the  year  of  the  Field  family's  occupation, 

and 


Madame  Burr 


171 


and  the  reading  of  the  hieroglyphics  on  the  window  was  fur- 
nished by  a  lady  of  the  Field  family. 

After  the  Clintons  left  it,  the  mansion  was  occupied  con- 
tinuously by  the  Jumel  family  until  the  death  of  Stephen  Jumel 
in  1832,  after  which  event  a  cloud  seemed  to  hang  over  the 
house,  and  for  many  years  thereafter  its  mistress  seemed  to 
shun  it  and  lived  in  it  as  little  as  possible. 

Mary  was  married  in  1832  to  Nelson  Chase,  a  young  lawyer, 
and  Madame  Jumel  spent  most  of  that  winter  with  the  newly 
wed,  at  apartments  she  had  rented  for  them  at  the  corner  of 
Elm  and  Grand  Streets.  Madame  Jumel  was  a  great  match- 
maker, and  in  the  case  of  Mary,  her  adopted  daughter,  who  was 
then  thirty  years  old,  she  proceeded  in  the  business  as  if  she  had 
been  buying  a  horse.  She  discovered  the  young  lawyer  in  the 
summer  of  183 1  at  Judge  Crippin's,  in  the  village  of  Worcester, 
Otsego  County,  New  York,  where  he  had  been  studying  law. 
She  promptly  made  the  proposals,  settled  the  income  of  the 
young  people,  and  left  Mary  at  Judge  Crippin's  to  finish  the 
courtship,  with  the  understanding  that  the  young  people  were 
to  come  and  live  with  her  at  the  mansion. 

Of  course,  as  she  was  parting  with  one  adopted  daughter,  she 
would  need  another.  She  had  met  also  at  Judge  Crippin's  an 
attractive  little  miss,  seven  or  eight  years  old,  whose  name  was 
Mary  Marilla  Stever.  It  was  just  another  Mary,  and  in  her 
prompt,  business  way  she  secured  the  consent  of  Mary's 
parents  and  brought  her  back  to  live  at  the  mansion.  This 
meeting  of  the  lovers  and  the  introduction  of  a  new  daughter 
into  the  house  were  before  the  death  of  Stephen  Jumel,  but  the 
marriage  was  after. 

In  1833,  Madame  Jumel  was  a  woman  of  fifty-nine,  possessed 
of  large  wealth,  and  still  ambitious  to  break  into  that  social 
compound  in  New  York  which  had  always  been  barred  to  her. 
Aaron  Burr  was  an  old  man,  seventy-eight  years  old,  himself  a 
social  outcast,  poor  and  alone,  but  his  name  was  one  of  distinc- 
tion; he  had  been  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  His 
object  in  a  marriage,  which  was  certainly  ill-assorted,  was  the 
money  that  he  sorely  needed,  and  perhaps  he  dreamed  of  a 
placid  old  age  in  a  home  of  luxury.  Whatever  the  motive  of  the 
bride  may  have  been,  the  distinction  she  added  to  her  name  by 

joining 


After  the  death 
of  Stephen 
Jumel,  its 
mistress  seemed 
to  shun  it 


As  she  parted 
with  one  adopted 
daughter  she  se- 
cured another 


Aaron  Burr  was 
an  old  man  of 
seventy-eight 


172 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Notice  of  the 
marriage  of 
Aaron  Burr  and 
Mrs.  Eliza 
Jumel  from  the 
'■'•Evening  Post" 


The  ceremony 
took  place  in  the 
small  parlor  at 
the  left  as  one 
enters 


The  familiar 
stories  about  the 
marriage  are  of 
no  value 


joining  it  to  that  of  Aaron  Burr,  was  the  social  triumph  of  her 
eventful  life.  She  dreamed  that  she  entertained  royalties  in  the 
mansion  and  that  she  was  the  mistress  of  an  imaginary  salon, 
but  she  actually  married  Aaron  Burr. 

The  marriage  seems  to  have  passed  almost  without  public 
notice.  The  "  Evening  Post "  and  the  "  Commercial  Advertiser  " 
each  gave  it  two  lines  in  the  marriage  column,  and  not  a  word 
of  comment.  The  "Evening  Post"  of  July  4,  1833,  had  this 
notice:  — 

On  Monday  evening  last,  at  Harlaem  Heights,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Bogart,  Col.  Aaron  Burr  to  Mrs.  Eliza  Jumel. 

The  following  extract  is  from  the  diary  of  Philip  Hone:  — 

Wednesday,  July  3d,  1833.  The  Celebrated  Col.  Burr  was 
married  on  monday  evening  to  the  equally  celebrated  Mrs.  Jumel, 
widow  of  Stephen  Jumel.  It  is  benevolent  in  her  to  keep  the  old 
man  in  his  latter  days.  One  good  turn  deserves  an  other. 

Aaron  Burr  gained  six  thousand  dollars  in  cash  by  the  mar- 
riage and  Madame  Jumel  some  further  experience  with  lawyers. 
The  marriage  was  one  of  the  most  famous  events  that  ever 
occurred  in  the  old  house.  The  ceremony  took  place  in  the 
small  parlor  at  the  left  as  one  enters  the  main  hall.  There  was  a 
wedding  journey  to  Hartford,  where  the  bride  sold  some 
Hartford  bridge  stock,  from  which,  by  her  own  allegation  in  the 
divorce  proceedings,  Burr  secured  the  six  thousand  dollars 
aforesaid.  The  family  tradition  is  that,  when  the  money  was 
being  paid  to  Madame  Burr,  she  said  with  a  wave  of  her  hand, 
"  Pay  it  to  my  husband."  It  is  also  a  family  tradition  that  in  his 
last  illness  she  had  him  brought  to  the  house,  and  that  for  two 
weeks,  he  lay,  night  and  day,  on  an  old  sofa  that  had  been 
Napoleon's,  before  the  fire  in  the  great  drawing-room.  This 
claim  is  more  traditional  than  probable,  as  it  would  be  just  in 
the  period  of  the  divorce  trial,  during  which  they  were  hurling 
corespondents  at  each  other,  and,  on  the  part  of  Burr,  in  the 
unfair  proportion  of  four  for  one. 

The  familiar  stories  about  the  affair,  emanating  from 
Madame  Jumel  herself,  are  of  no  more  value  than  her  fantastic 
statement  on  the  subject,  made  to  the  Haven  party,  which  will 
be  found  in  the  next  chapter.  The  only  reliable  information 

about 


Aaron  Burr 


Madame  Burr 


173 


about  the  union  with  Aaron  Burr  is  to  be  found  in  the  divorce 
case,  which  was  brought  to  trial  in  the  last  few  weeks  of  Burr's 
life,  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  before  PhiloT.  Ruggles,  Charles 
O'Conor  representing  the  interests  of  Burr.  The  divorce  was 
granted  a  few  days  before  Burr  died.  Burr's  stay  in  the  house 
was  evidently  a  brief  one,  at  the  time  of  the  marriage,  but  it 
seems  that,  after  an  interval  of  seven  months,  he  renewed  his 
relations  with  his  wife,  which  continued  for  just  five  weeks. 

Even  after  the  divorce  and  after  the  death  of  Aaron  Burr, 
she  continued  to  use  his  name  when  she  thought  it  would  con- 
tribute to  her  distinction.  She  used  to  say  that  it  was  a  good 
name  to  travel  under,  and  it  is  claimed  that  on  one  occasion  in 
France,  when  she  met  a  body  of  troops  on  a  country  road,  she 
rose  in  her  carriage  and  cried,  "Make  way  for  the  widow  of  the 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States." 

On  her  last  trip  to  Europe,  in  1853,  she  traveled  under  the 
name  of  Madame  Burr. 

It  was  after  Madame  Jumel's  death  that  she  became  the 
grande  dame  in  fiction,  the  social  leader,  the  entertainer  of 
royalties,  and  the  founder  of  a  political  salon.  Her  marriage  to 
Aaron  Burr,  the  mystery  of  her  origin,  the  many  eccentricities 
that  marked  her  career,  ending  in  insanity  and  seclusion,  com- 
mended her  to  the  novelists,  who  alone  have  written  her  history. 
She  has  appeared  in  the  pages  of  a  dozen  novels  and  made  love 
to  Hamilton  in  "The  Conqueror,"  and  in  every  case  she  has 
appeared  only  as  a  creation  of  the  author's  unbridled  imagina- 
tion. 

There  is  no  probability  that  she  knew  Alexander  Hamilton. 
He  was  killed  in  the  duel  with  Burr  in  1804,  the  year  in  which 
Stephen  Jumel  married  his  mistress,  and  six  years  before  they 
came  to  live  in  the  mansion. 

It  was  the  women  of  her  time  who  saw  to  it  that  Madame 
Jumel  had  no  social  recognition.  One  lady,  whose  grandfather 
was  a  prominent  lawyer  on  the  Heights,  states  that  Madame 
Jumel  came  to  her  grandfather  sometimes  for  legal  advice,  but 
that  if  her  grandmother  chanced  to  be  sitting  on  the  piazza 
when  Madame  Jumel's  carriage  drove  in,  she  disappeared  into 
the  house  and  remained  out  of  sight  until  the  carriage  drove 
away. 

On 


The  divorce  was 
granted  a  few 
days  before  Burr 
died 


It  was  after  her 
death  that  she  he- 
came  the  '■'■grand 
dame"  in  fiction 


There  is  no  prob- 
ability that  she 
ever  knew  Alex- 
ander Hamilton 


174 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Piqued  by  a  re- 
mark of  Shep- 
pard  Knapp,  she 
bought  four  gray 
horses 


Madame  fumel 
was  fond  of 
children 


The  interesting 

story  of  Alexan- 
der Hamilton 
IVallace 


On  the  other  hand,  it  is  related  of  Madame  Jumel  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  family  (which  probably  means  that  Madame  Jumel 
told  the  story  of  herself),  that  shortly  after  her  return  from 
France,  in  1826,  she  drove  down  to  New  York,  after  a  single 
horse,  and  that  the  animal  fell  in  front  of  the  store  of  Sheppard 
Knapp,  and  that  Mr.  Knapp,  who  was  her  neighbor  on  the 
Heights,  came  out,  and,  seeing  who  it  was,  remarked  that  it  was 
only  Madame  Jumel.  This  slur  so  touched  her  pride  that,  as 
soon  as  her  finances  were  in  condition,  she  went  over  to  New 
Jersey  and  bought  four  gray  horses,  and  putting  them  to  her 
carriage,  and  arraying  herself  in  an  exquisite  toilet,  she  drove 
through  the  city  in  state  and,  within  a  few  days  thereafter,  she 
received  fifteen  hundred  cards  from  distinguished  New  Yorkers. 

Like  most  childless  people,  Madame  Jumel  was  fond  of  chil- 
dren. Perhaps  she  felt  lonely  in  the  year  after  her  unfortunate 
marriage  with  Burr.  It  was  in  that  year  (1834)  that  she  took  a 
deep  interest  in  an  interesting  event  that  took  place  in  her 
neighborhood.  It  was  the  birth  of  two  twin  boys,  one  of  whom, 
Alexander  Hamilton  Wallace,  is  still  living  at  the  age  of  eighty. 
His  quaint  story  is  best  told  in  his  own  words:  — 

My  father,  Jacob  Wallace,  at  the  time  of  my  birth,  lived  a 
little  west  of  the  King's  Bridge  Road,  between  what  are  now 
158th  and  159th  Streets.  I  had  a  twin  brother,  and  Madame 
Jumel,  who  was  our  nearest  neighbor,  took  great  interest  in  the 
twins  and  asked  my  father  to  be  allowed  to  name  us.  My  father 
asked  her  what  she  would  like  to  call  us,  and  she  said  she  would 
name  one  of  us  Stephen  Jumel  and  the  other  Aaron  Burr.  As  I 
was  fifteen  minutes  older  than  my  brother,  I  should  have  been 
named  Stephen  Jumel.  My  father  was  rather  a  rough-spoken 
man,  and  my  mother  used  to  say  that  he  replied  that  he  had  two 
dogs  out  in  the  yard  and  that  he  would  not  have  those  names 
on  his  dogs.  The  Madame  was  so  good  to  us  afterwards  that  I 
doubt  if  my  father  used  that  language  to  her. 

The  Hamiltons  were  our  neighbors,  too,  and  my  father  was  a 
great  admirer  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  so  it  came  about  that 
I  was  named  Alexander  Hamilton  Wallace  and  my  brother,  Ed- 
ward Hamilton  Wallace. 

As  I  said,  we  were  great  favorites  of  Madame  Jumel  and  from 
my  earliest  recollection  until  we  were  well-grown  children,  and 
my  father  moved  off"  the  hill,  we  played  in  the  mansion  just  as 
if  it  was  our  own  house.  The  Madame  imported  a  box  of  won- 
derful toys  from  Germany,  and  had  suits  of  clothes  made  for  us 
just  alike. 

Mr. 


Madame  Burr 


175 


Mr.  Wallace  further  stated  that  he  had  always  heard  his 
mother  say  that  the  cypress  trees  around  the  fish  pond  were 
planted  the  year  the  twins  were  born. 

Madame  Jumel  was  an  attendant  at  the  Church  of  the 

Intercession,  then  on  Amsterdam  Avenue.  Mr.  Edwin  B k, 

of  52  West  iioth  Street,  who  as  a  boy  lived  near  the  mansion, 
and  was  a  plajonate  of  her  nephew,  Willie  Chase,  gives  an 
amusing  account  of  Madame  Jumel's  habit  of  coming  into 
church  late,  after  the  sermon  was  begun,  dressed  in  rustling  silk 
over  huge  hoops,  and  wearing  a  Leghorn  hat  decked  with  a  white 
ostrich  plume,  and  how  the  rector,  on  one  occasion,  stopped  in 
his  sermon  until  she  got  seated. 

Among  those  still  living  who  remember  Madame  Jumel,  and 
who  are  able  to  give  us  brief  glimpses  of  that  lady  in  life,  is  a 

Mrs.  M M ,  who  lives  at  190  Wadsworth  Street,  New 

York.  She  is  now  nearly  eighty-two  years  old  and  remembers 
very  distinctly  coming  with  her  father,  Richard  Watkinson,  to 
pay  a  visit  to  Madame  Jumel.  They  came  from  their  home  in 
Philadelphia,  where  her  father  was  a  prominent  merchant.  He 
had  been  a  friend  of  Aaron  Burr,  and  that  seems  to  have  been 
his  reason  for  paying  this  visit.  She  remembers  the  ride  from 
the  station  in  an  open  wagon,  and  that  there  were  two  gentle- 
men from  North  Carolina  with  them  going  to  the  same  destina- 
tion. One  was  an  old  man,  Mr.  de  Coyne,  and  the  other,  Mr. 
Graham,  was  younger.  She  thinks  she  was  fifteen  years  old  at 
the  time,  which  would  fix  the  year  as  1846.  She  wrote  down  the 
names  of  the  strange  gentlemen  in  her  diary.  She  remembers 
very  vividly  how  Madame  Jumel,  or  Madame  Burr,  was 
dressed  as  she  appeared  entering  the  hall  through  a  door  at  the 
foot  of  the  stairway.  She  seemed  very  grand  and  beautiful  in  a 
gown  of  royal  purple  velvet,  the  skirt  open  in  front  and  lined 
with  yellow  satin.  She  wore  side  curls  and  greeted  them  with 
very  grand  manners.  After  greeting  them  she  took  them  into  a 
very  small  room  where  a  table  was  set  and  gave  them  cake  and 
wine.  This  room,  which  she  described  as  being  between  the  hall 
and  the  butler's  pantry,  was  formed  by  an  old  partition  that 
formerly  cut  off^  the  stairway  from  the  hall.  Then  Madame 
Jumel  ordered  her  carriage  and  drove  them  to  the  manor 
house  at  Yonkers,  where  they  were  again  entertained. 

A 


Mr. 
B— 


Edwin 

■Fs  story 


of  Madame 
'Jumel  entering 
church 


ThevisitofMrs. 

M ,  as  a 

child.,  with  her 
father.,  to  Jumel 
Mansion  ■ 


She  were  side 
curls  and  greeted 
them  with  very 
grand  manners 


176 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  little  girl 
who  listened  at 
the  gate  to  the 
string  band 


After  the  death 
of  Stephen  fumel 
there  was  a  ghost 
in  the  house 


Mary  Marilla 
Stever^  who  went 
away  betvueen  the 
time  that  Stephen 
fumel  was  hurt 
and  the  time 
when  he  died 


A  woman  now  living  in  New  Jersey  reports  that  as  a  child 
she  used  to  pass  the  great  gate  on  her  way  to  school,  and  that 
she  often  stopped  to  listen  to  the  music  of  a  string  band  playing 
on  the  balcony  under  the  front  porch.  She  remembers  that  the 
band  was  playing  operatic  airs,  and  believes  that  it  was  playing 
for  Madame  Jumel  while  she  was  breakfasting  in  her  room. 
The  lady,  who  is  musical,  says  that  as  a  child  she  always  re- 
mained with  her  face  pressed  against  the  gate  until  the  last  note 
of  the  music  sounded. 

AftQr  the  death  of  Stephen  Jumel  there  seems  to  have  been 
a  ghost  in  the  house,  or  some  other  mysterious  influence,  that 
drove  its  mistress  from  it.  Shortly  after  his  death,  her  adopted 
niece,  now  married  to  the  young  lawyer.  Nelson  Chase,  had 
come  home  with  her  husband,  just  as  Madame  Jumel,  with  that 
constant  craving  for  companionship  in  her  isolated  life,  had 
stipulated  before  the  marriage.  Instead,  however,  of  settling 
down  for  the  autumn  and  winter  with  the  young  people  to 
enliven  the  household,  she  promptly  rented  apartments  for 
them  at  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Elm  Streets  in  the  city  and 
went  herself  to  live  with  them. 

She  was  back  in  the  house  in  the  following  summer  for  the 
marriage  with  Burr,  and  was  still  there  in  the  winter  of  1833-34 
for  the  renewal  of  their  marital  relations  for  "five  weeks."  In 
the  fall  of  1834,  she  turned  her  back  on  her  luxurious  home,  a 
voluntary  outcast  and  a  wanderer  for  five  years  from  one 
lodging  to  another  in  the  city. 

Some  time  in  1839  she  was  back  in  the  mansion.  William 
Henry  Carroll,  a  colored  man,  testified  that  he  drove  the  car- 
riage for  Madame  Jumel  in  the  summer  of  1839,  and  that  she 
did  not  go  to  Saratoga  that  summer.  He  said:  "A  young  lady 
and  a  cook  was  the  family.  Mary  appeared  to  be  14  or  15. 
She  had  a  little  boy  living  with  her  named  Johnny."  It  was  the 
old  craving  to  have  young  people  about  her,  and  "Mary"  was 
Mary  Marilla  Stever,  who  went  away  between  the  time  that 
Stephen  Jumel  was  hurt  and  the  time  when  he  died. 

If  Madame  Jumel's  mind  had  not  begun  to  fail  then,  unmis- 
takable signs  of  its  breaking  up  appear  two  years  later  in  1842. 
In  that  year  Ann  Northrup  was  a  servant  in  the  house  and 
her  son  "Alonzo  was  Madame's  footman."  She  testified  that 

"  there 


Madame  Jumel 

From  a  lithograph 


Madame  Burr 


177 


"there  was  a  large  handsomely  furnished  room  in  which  a  table 
was  set."  That  was  the  table  with  broken  ornaments  that 
Madame  Jumel  claimed  were  the  remains  of  the  banquet  she 
had  given  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  the  late  King  of  Spain.  As  she 
never  entertained  Joseph  Bonaparte,  and  perhaps  never  saw 
him,  only  a  demented  woman  could  set  up  such  a  delusion  and 
close  the  most  important  room  in  the  house  to  contain  it.  In 
1862,  Mrs.  Charles  O'Conor  told  Mrs.  Appleton  Haven  that 
she  had  seen  this  table  twenty  years  before. 

In  1834,  the  mansion  was  rented  to  a  Mr.  Pell  and  afterwards 
to  a  Mr.  Monroe,  their  tenancy  covering  five  years.  In  the 
winter  of  1834  we  find  Madame  Jumel  with  the  Chases,  living 
at  63  Chambers  Street.  In  May,  1835,  they  moved  to  3  39  Green- 
wich Street,  where  they  lived  for  two  years.  In  1837,  the 
Chase  family  moved  to  Hoboken  and  Madame  Jumel  was 
sometimes  with  them.  Some  of  her  summers  she  spent  in 
Saratoga,  returning  to  Hoboken  in  the  fall;  but  when  winter 
came  and  the  ice  in  the  river  made  the  crossing  of  the  small 
ferryboats  uncertain,  she  stopped  in  New  York,  usually  making 
her  home  at  the  Astor  House. 

Madame  Jumel  and  the  Chases  seem  to  have  come  together 
in  the  mansion  as  a  united  family  in  1848,  but  Mary,  the  favor- 
ite niece  and  wife  of  Nelson  Chase,  in  whose  name  the  title  to 
the  entire  property  vested,  had  been  dead  for  five  years.  She 
had  left  two  children,  a  daughter  and  son,  —  Eliza  Jumel,  then 
twelve  years  old,  and  William  Inglis,  who  was  eight. 

In  1853,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  Madame  Jumel  went 
abroad  for  the  last  time,  taking  with  her  the  young  people,  now 
seventeen  and  thirteen.  She  seems  to  have  taken  passage  for 
Bordeaux  from  force  of  habit,  and  certainly  not  to  visit  the 
family  of  M.  Jumel.  She  traveled  under  the  name  of  Mrs.  Aaron 
Burr  and  announced  herself  as  the  widow  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  She  found  at  Bordeaux,  however,  a 
husband  for  Eliza  in  the  person  of  M.  Paul  Guillaume  Raymond 
Pery,  and  with  her  usual  energy  she  settled  the  affair  out  of 
hand,  guaranteeing  an  income  of  five  thousand  francs  to  the 
bride,  and  stipulating  that  they  should  come  and  live  with  her 
at  the  mansion.  This  having  been  arranged  to  her  satisfaction, 
she  pushed  on  to  Rome,  where  she  sat,  with  her  nephew  and 

niece. 


Pint  account  of 
the  table  with  the 
broken  ornaments^ 
the  remains  of  the 
banquet  to  "Joseph 
Bonaparte 


Some  of  the  sum- 
mers she  spent  in 
Saratoga 


In  1853  she 
went  abroad  for 
the  last  time, 
under  the  name 
of  Airs.  Jar  on 
Burr 


178 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


She  appeared  in 
the  village  of 
Carmansville 
with  her  posti- 
lions in  green 
liveries 


She  was  taken 
advantage  of  by 
her  neighbors.,  as 
she  grew  old 


Statement  of 
IVitliam  Luby 


niece,  for  a  life-size  family  group  painted  by  Alcide  Ercole.  It 
was  stated  by  M.  Pery  that  when  Madame  Jumel  came  to 
Bordeaux  she  was  traveling  as  Eliza  Burr.  She  remained 
abroad  until  after  the  young  people  were  married  and  then 
returned  with  her  nephew.  She  was  a  woman  nearly  eighty,  who 
had  always  been  eccentric,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  fix  the  time 
when  eccentricity  develops  into  insanity.  It  was  on  this  visit  to 
Paris  that  she  bought  green  liveries  for  her  postilions,  when  she 
had  no  postilions.  On  her  return  she  determined  to  show  the 
green  liveries,  and  so  she  notified  the  village  of  Carmansville, 
which  was  the  railway  station  for  New  York,  that  on  a  fixed 
date  she  would  pass  through  the  village  in  her  carriage  with 
postilions  in  her  new  liveries.  At  that  democratic  period  it  is 
said  that  the  consul-general  of  Great  Britain  was  the  only 
person  in  the  city  of  New  York  whose  coachman  wore  livery. 
She  must  have  got  together  a  scratch  team,  and  put  the  coach- 
man and  the  gardener  in  the  green  uniforms,  but  she  drove 
through  Carmansville  at  the  specified  time,  when  her  carriage 
and  postilions  were  pelted  with  such  missiles  as  the  boys  could 
lay  hands  on. 

It  is  evident  that  Madame  Jumel  was  sadly  imposed  upon  by 
unprincipled  neighbors,  who  played  upon  her  eccentricity  or 
took  advantage  of  the  fact  that  she  had  no  husband  or  other 
responsible  agent  to  look  after  her  large  property,  and  that 
these  impositions  began  soon  after  Stephen  Jumel's  death. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  unlikely  that,  during  the  long  absence  of  the 
family  in  France,  the  neighbors  gradually  formed  the  habit  of 
helping  themselves  to  anything  they  wanted  on  the  neglected 
farms  of  the  estate. 

The  following  statement  by  William  Luby,  gives  incidents  of 
just  this  kind  of  imposition:  — 

When  I  was  born,  in  1841,  my  father,  James  Luby,  was  coach- 
man for  Madame  Jumel.  I  think  he  continued  in  her  service  until 
about  1846.  In  my  father's  time  Madame  Jumel  owned  a  forty- 
acre  wood-lot  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Harlem  River,  just  above 
where  High  Bridge  has  since  been  built.  All  the  neighbors  helped 
themselves  to  their  firewood  and  to  timber  for  building.  One  day 
she  stopped  her  carriage  where  a  man  was  scoring  timber,  and 
calling  the  man  by  name,  informed  him  that  the  stick  of  timber 
was  her  property. 

"No," 


Madame  Burr 


179 


"No,"  said  the  man,  "it  is  mine." 

"Well,  you  cut  it  off  my  lot." 

"But  you  can't  prove  it,"  replied  the  man. 

"No  more  than  Connelly  could,"  said  Madame  Jumel,  refer- 
ring to  a  lawsuit  she  had  just  won,  and  drove  on. 

Scows  came  up  the  river  and  stole  wood  to  sell  in  the  city. 
Finally,  Madame  Jumel  got  a  detail  of  two  policemen  to  guard 
her  wood-lot,  to  whose  salary  she  made  a  liberal  addition.  There- 
after, when  a  neighbor  wanted  wood,  he  took  a  bottle  of  whiskey 
to  the  officer  on  duty,  and  the  officer  helped  cut  the  wood.  My 
uncle  bought  six  acres  of  land  from  the  Madame  and  helped  him- 
self to  the  timber  to  build  his  house. 

My  father  said  that  one  winter  the  Madame  had  two  fat  hogs 
to  be  killed  and  she  hired  a  neighbor  to  do  the  butchering.  When 
he  had  the  sleigh  drawn  up  on  the  snow  to  dress  the  hogs  on, 
and  the  tub  alongside  to  scald  them  in,  the  Madame  came  out 
and  said  that  she  was  fond  of  pork,  but  she  did  n't  like  hair,  and 
she  wanted  to  have  the  bristles  taken  out  roots  and  all.  The 
butcher  told  her  that  it  would  cost  a  little  more  for  an  extra  scald, 
and  that  he  should  need  to  have  a  gallon  of  whiskey  to  add  to 
the  boiling  water.  She  sent  my  father  to  Harlem  to  get  the  whis- 
key. The  butcher  expected  to  set  the  demijohn  in  the  coach- 
house and  drink  its  contents  at  his  pleasure,  but  the  old  lady  came 
out  to  see  the  whiskey  put  into  the  water.  My  father  said  that 
the  butcher  saved  enough  of  the  whiskey  to  get  so  drunk  that  he 
fell  backwards  off  the  sleigh,  when  the  hook  tore  out  as  he  was 
hauling  one  of  the  hogs  out  of  the  tub. 

That  Madame  Jumel  could  be  small  in  small  matters  and 
generous  in  larger  transactions  is  well  illustrated  by  two 
incidents. 

Mr.  Bailey,  who  did  the  plumbing  about  the  house,  said  that 
she  always  disputed  his  bills,  no  matter  how  small  they  might 
be.  If  he  presented  a  bill  for  $1.50,  she  would  insist  that  she 
had  no  such  sum  in  the  house,  but  a  little  later  she  would 
suggest  that  if  Mr.  Bailey  would  drop  the  fifty  cents  and  call 
the  bill  a  dollar,  she  might  possibly  find  the  money. 

Mr.  Benjamin  S.  Church  was  formerly  the  city  engineer  in 
charge  of  the  old  reservoir,  which  was  removed  to  make  room 
for  the  new  library  building,  and  of  the  pipe-line  from  High 
Bridge,  which  formed  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  Jumel  door 
yard  between  159th  and  i62d  Streets.  One  day  Mr.  Church 
discovered  that  the  city  fence  was  slightly  over  the  Jumel  line. 
He  called  on  the  Madame  and  informed  her  of  the  fact,  and 

remained 


Scows  came  up 
the  river  and 
stole  her  wood  to 
sell  in  the  city 


The  butcher 
scalds  her  hogs 
in  whiskey  and 
water 


Mr.  Bailey's 
experience 


The  experience 
of  Mr.  Benjamin 
S,  Church 


i8o 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


She  left  the  roam 
and  presently  re- 
turned with  a 
check  for  $JOO 


Js  to  the  prop- 
erty, M.  Jumel 
had  left  none 


remained  for  luncheon.  Shortly  after  this  interview  he  exam- 
ined the  official  records  and  later  caused  the  fence  to  be  cor- 
rectly placed.  The  whole  transaction  may  have  taken  a  day  of 
Mr.  Church's  time,  and  was  a  part  of  his  official  duty,  and  he 
expected  nothing  for  what  he  had  done.  When,  however,  he 
called  and  reported  the  adjustment  of  the  fence  to  Madame 
Jumel,  she  excused  herself,  left  the  room,  and  presently  re- 
turned with  a  check  for  ^500. 

Her  strange  doings  must  have  been  trying  to  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  household,  but  she  had  an  iron  will  and  she  held  the 
purse-strings. 

Soon  after  M.  Jumel's  death,  when  her  mind  was  quite  nor- 
mal, his  relatives  in  France  heard  of  his  death  and  communi- 
cated with  Madame  Jumel,  asking  for  information  regarding 
his  decease,  and  also  as  to  the  amount  of  property  left  by  him. 
In  July,  1833,  one  year  after  M.  Jumel's  death,  and  a  few  days 
after  her  marriage  to  Aaron  Burr,  the  French  heirs  received  an 
answer  to  their  inquiry  in  which  it  was  stated  that,  by  reason  of 
her  great  grief  at  the  death  of  her  husband,  Madame  Jumel  had 
been  compelled  to  delay  the  reply,  and  that,  as  to  the  property, 
M.  Jumel  had  left  none. 


'  m¥  \«i> 


nip  mi , 


,Wm 


i8i 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE    END 

H 

IT  was  in  the  year  1857,  according  to  Mr.  Edwin  Brad- 
brook,  who  then  Uved  in  Carmansville,  that  Madame 
Jumel  organized  her  military  company  and  maintained 
for  a  time  an  armed  garrison,  including  a  brass  band. 
This  curious  proceeding  seems  to  have  been  prompted  by  a 
benevolent  impulse.  Having  heard  that  some  French  immi- 
grants down  in  the  city  were  out  of  work  and  in  distress,  she 
got  them  together  on  the  Heights  and  formed  them  into  a 
company  with  a  band,  and  maintained  them  all  winter.  At 
that  time,  it  is  said,  sentries  were  posted  at  the  gates,  and  that 
the  soldiers  passed  in  review  before  Madame  Jumel  and  fired 
volleys  at  her  command. 

Some  of  the  details  of  this  military  exploit  in  mobilizing  by 
the  poor  demented  lady  may  have  been  enlarged  upon  in  the 
telling,  but  all  the  old  residents  on  Washington  Heights  who 
remember  Madame  Jumel,  remember  her  company  of  soldiers 
and  the  brass  band.  Was  it  a  feeble  effort  of  the  old  house  to 
live  up  to  its  martial  past .'' 

Several  years  before  this  writing  a  man  told  the  writer  that, 
as  a  boy,  he  remembered  seeing,  from  the  opposite  shore  of  the 
Harlem  River,  Madame  Jumel  mounted  on  a  horse  and  riding 
about  the  grounds  followed  by  people  with  sticks.  The  writer 
did  not  at  the  time  connect  this  incident  with  the  military 
company.  A  recent  statement  from  a  perfectly  reliable  source, 
however,  indicates  that  the  foregoing  circumstance  was  an 
indifferent  parade  of  her  irregular  soldiery. 

Mr.  George  Luckey,  of  Closter,  New  Jersey,  and  one  of  the 
patrons  of  the  museum,  used  to  spend  his  summers,  when  a  boy, 
at  the  country  house  of  his  family  on  Morris  Heights  over- 
looking High  Bridge.  With  some  of  his  boy  companions  he  was 

fond 


The  military 
company  with 
wooden  guns 


All  the  old  resi- 
dents of  IVash- 
ington  Heights 
remember  the 
military  company 


Story  of  Mr. 
George  Luckev 
of  Closter.,  New 
Jersey 


l82 


He  remembers 
Madame  "Jumel 
as  very  spare  and 
thirty  sitting  as 
straight  as  a 
grenadier  on 
her  horse 


The  fishing  in 
the  Harlem 
River  was  good 
at  that  time 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


She  could  be  seen 
from  the  path 
over  the  swamps 
as  she  rode  at  the 
head  of  her 
soldiers 


fond  of  fishing  in  the  Harlem  River  and  his  favorite  fishing- 
ground  was  on  that  part  of  the  river  directly  opposite  to 
i6oth  Street  and  affording  an  unobstructed  view  of  the  Jumel 
Mansion  and  grounds. 

Mr.  Luckey  thinks  that  he  was  about  twelve  years  old  at  the 
period  he  refers  to  and  that  the  year  was  1859.  At  times  when 
the  boys  were  fishing,  he  states  that  Madame  Jumel  would  ap- 
pear at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  mounted  on  a  horse, 
and  followed  by  from  fifteen  to  twenty  men,  marching  like  sol- 
diers each  carrying  a  stick  for  a  gun.  He  remembers  her  as  very 
spare  and  thin,  sitting  as  straight  as  a  grenadier  on  her  horse, 
and  turning  about  now  and  then  to  face  her  company,  and  then 
resuming  the  march.  The  grounds  were  much  larger  then  than 
now,  and  the  first  appearance  of  the  military  company  and  its 
strange  commander  was  along  the  edge  of  the  blufi^,  moving 
south  on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  Edgecombe  Avenue. 
The  procession  would  disappear  along  the  159th  Street  side  of 
the  yard  to  reappear  in  due  time  as  before.  She  would  make  a 
number  of  rounds  with  her  company  before  disbanding,  and  the 
boys  sometimes  formed  their  fishing  boats  in  fine  as  a  sort  of 
naval  salute.  This  movement  was  plainly  to  be  seen,  and 
Madame  Jumel  would  halt  when  she  noticed  them  and  look 
very  sternly  in  their  direction.  The  boys  had  heard  at  that 
time  that  the  strange  lady  was  fabulously  rich,  but,  as  they 
expressed  it,  "dotty." 

According  to  Mr.  Luckey,  the  fishing  in  the  Harlem  River 
was  good  at  that  time,  perhaps  almost  as  good  as  it  was  when 
James  Carroll  advertised  his  farm  for  sale.  The  boys  caught 
more  black  bass  and  flounders  than  they  cared  to  carry  home. 
They  were  mostly  the  sons  of  rich  parents,  but  they  were  not 
above  earning  a  little  pocket  money  by  their  own  exertions. 
Flounders,  fresh  from  the  water,  were  worth  a  shilling  a  pound 
at  the  near-by  roadhouses  on  Harlem  Lane,  and  the  boys  were 
very  flush  until  some  of  their  parents  learned  the  source  of  the 
money  supply  and  put  a  stop  to  the  traffic. 

Madame  Jumel,  as  she  rode  at  the  head  of  her  troops,  could 
be  seen  from  the  path  of  two  planks,  laid  on  stakes,  that  led 
diagonally  across  the  wide  swamp  between  the  river  and  the 
bluffs,  a  narrow  footbridge  by  which  the  boys  from  Morris 

Heights 


The  Beginning  of  the  End 


183 


Heights  crossed  to  school  near  Hamilton  Grange.  She  could  be 
seen  from  the  two  brick  tombs,  round  like  beehives,  and  set  into 
the  bank  where  the  stairs  went  up  from  the  end  of  the  path  of 
planks,  just  under  the  western  end  of  the  viaduct  of  to-day. 
These  were  the  tombs  of  the  family  of  Alderman  Broadhurst,  of 
the  out-ward.  She  could  also  be  seen  from  the  fine  old  colonial 
house  standing  on  about  the  site  of  Eighth  Avenue  and  issth 
Street  whose  neglected  grounds  sloped  back  to  the  river. 

The  river  at  this  point  was  a  paradise  for  boys,  and  there 
were  greater  attractions  for  them  than  observing  the  strange  be- 
havior of  a  demented  lady.  Below  the  bridge  when  the  tide  was 
out,  there  were  soft-shells  and  shedders  wriggling  among  the 
rushes,  and  the  sands  along  the  river  were  full  of  clams.  In  the 
gardens  of  the  colonial  house,  beyond  the  broken  palings,  grew 
the  sweetest  of  peaches  and  the  most  luscious  pears,  and  in  the 
neglected  asparagus  beds  the  green  stems  pushed  their  heads  up 
through  the  mould  just  beckoning  to  be  picked. 

In  those  days  Tom  Hyer,  the  pugilist  who  fought  Yankee 
Sullivan,  came  each  summer  to  one  of  the  roadhouses,  and  each 
year  with  a  new  mistress.  George  Luckey,  at  twelve  years  old, 
was  very  proud  to  know  Tom  Hyer. 

Inspector  Steers,  who  is  eighty-four  years  old,  and  now  totally 
blind,  is  one  of  the  old  residents  of  Washington  Heights  who 
remembers  the  military  company,  which  he  thinks  consisted  of 
about  thirty  men,  and  who,  he  says,  were  lodged  in  a  great  barn 
on  the  place.  He  knew  the  mansion  from  about  1850,  and  the 
men  of  the  family,  but  his  personal  acquaintance  with  Madame 
Jumel  was  only  during  the  last  two  years  of  her  life,  when  he 
was  a  police  officer  whose  duties  sometimes  took  him  to  the 
mansion.  He  said  she  usually  entertained  him  in  the  hall  and 
would  talk  for  hours,  but  exacted  a  certain  amount  of  attention 
from  her  listener.  It  was  necessary  to  say,  "Yes,  Madame," 
frequently,  and  "Indeed,"  and  "Really,  Madame,"  to  keep  her 
flow  of  talk  at  high  tide.  According  to  her  boasting  every 
President  of  the  United  States  had,  at  some  time,  been  in  the 
house.  She  was  a  great  story-teller,  but  when  the  inspector  was 
asked  if  he  remembered  any  of  the  stories,  he  said  he  only 
remembered  that  they  were  nasty. 

In  her  journeys  to  Saratoga,  Madame  Jumel  sometimes 

went 


She  could  be  seen 
from  the  two 
brick  tombs, 
round  like  bee- 
hives 


George  Luckey 
was  proud  to 
know  Tom  Hyer 


Inspector  Steer's 
recollections  of 
Madame  fumel 


1 84 


The  fantastic 
appearance  of 
Madame  fumel 
on  a  Hudson 
River  boat 


The  two  car- 
riages with  pos- 
tilions, that  drove 
through  the 
streets  of  Sara- 
toga 


The  postilions  on 
the  white  lady's 
horses  were  black 
and  on  the  black 
lady's,  white 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


went  by  rail  and  sometimes  by  the  Albany  boat  on  the  river. 
An  incident  is  related  by  a  lady  who,  as  a  child  of  twelve,  was 
taken  by  an  older  sister  for  her  first  trip  on  a  Hudson  River 
steamer.  What  impressed  her  most  was  the  strange  appear- 
ance of  a  little  old  lady,  fantastically  dressed  and  powdered 
and  rouged,  who  was  smiling  and  bowing  to  the  right  and  to 
the  left,  and  who  seemed  to  focus  the  attention  of  every  one 
on  board.  She  was  seated  in  the  dining-saloon,  surrounded 
by  a  wall  of  small  baskets,  fluttering  with  ribbons.  Even  the 
waiters  had  retired  to  a  little  distance  and  were  nudging  each 
other  and  exchanging  knowing  smiles,  showing  that  they  were 
in  possession  of  the  common  knowledge  that  the  poor  lady 
was  out  of  her  mind.  This  was  probably  her  last  visit  to  Sara- 
toga. If  so,  it  was  in  the  summer  of  1859,  and  although  we  are 
informed  in  a  recent  magazine  article  that  on  that  last  visit 
to  Saratoga  she  took  with  her  a  retinue  of  fifty  household  ser- 
vants, she  was  really  living  very  quietly  at  her  house  in  Cir- 
cular Street,  with  one  or  possibly  two  servants. 

It  was  during  that  last  summer  that  an  event  took  place 
on  the  streets  of  Saratoga  that  reflected  no  credit  on  the  young 
men  who  promoted  it.  Madame  Jumel's  ambition  to  ride 
after  postilions  was  well  known,  and  the  authors  of  the  pag- 
eant played  upon  her  peculiar  weakness.  One  afternoon  a 
coach  and  four  horses,  the  near  horses  ridden  by  postilions, 
was  drawn  up  before  the  Congress  Hall  Hotel,  and  in  it  was 
seated  Madame  Jumel,  quite  unconscious  that  behind  her  was 
another  coach  with  similar  appointments,  and  that  in  it  a  fat 
colored  "woman"  occupied  the  seat  corresponding  to  her  own. 
The  only  difference  in  the  two  turnouts  was  the  fact  that  the 
two  postilions  on  the  white  lady's  horses  were  black,  while 
those  on  the  black  "lady's"  were  white.  The  black  "lady" 
was  a  well-known  character  in  Saratoga,  who  was  in  low  neck 
and  short  sleeves,  his  skin  blackened  for  the  occasion.  The 
fact  that  this  strange  procession  drove  out  to  the  lake  and 
back,  past  cheering  throngs,  would  indicate  that  Madame 
Jumel  accepted  the  affair  as  an  ovation  to  her,  and  that  she 
had  no  knowledge  that  a  carriage  followed  her. 

During  these  strangely  eventful  years,  the  life-size  family 
group,  painted  in  Rome  by  Alcide  Ercole,  was  hanging  in 

the 


Silhouette  -of  Madame  Jumel 


The  Beginning  of  the  End 


i8s 


the  wide  hall  opposite  to  the  dining-room  door.  It  was  an 
unfortunate  event  connected  with  this  portrait,  which  about 
the  year  1862,  suddenly  separated  Madame  Jumel  from  the 
rest  of  her  household  and  left  her  alone  in  the  mansion  for  the 
last  three  years  of  her  life.  One  day  the  young  nephew  flew 
into  an  ungovernable  fit  of  anger  at  his  great-aunt,  which  took 
the  form  of  an  assault  on  the  painting.  He  seized  an  inkstand 
from  a  writing-table  in  the  hall,  and,  evidently  aiming  at  the 
smiling  face  of  his  aunt,  the  missile  hit  his  own  shoulder  leav- 
ing breaks  still  visible  on  the  canvas.  It  was  not  to  cover  a 
break,  but  as  a  punishment  of  her  grand-nephew,  that  she  put 
a  black  patch  over  his  face. 

Madame  Jumel  was  enraged  in  turn,  and  in  her  wrath  she 
drove  the  Chase  family  from  the  house,  and,  it  is  said,  their 
belongings  were  thrown  out  upon  the  lawn.  From  this  event 
until  her  death  in  1865,  she  lived  alone  in  the  house  with  one 
servant  to  take  care  of  her  —  a  house  shut  up  from  fresh  air, 
in  an  atmosphere  that  has  been  described  as  stifling  and  ofi^en- 
sive  by  the  few  visitors  who  found  their  way  into  her  presence. 


What  hefel  the 
picture  painted 
by  Alcide  Ercole 
in  Rome 


i86 


The  horses^  like 
their  mistress, 
had  grown  old 
and  queer 


The  Venetian 
blinds  were  closed 
as  if  the  house 
were  the  house 
of  the  dead 


CHAPTER    XVII 


A   MAD-HOUSE 


H 

DURING  the  last  three  years  of  her  life,  Madame 
Jumel  shut  herself  up  in  the  old  house  with  one 
servant  of  all  work  indoors  and  a  man  outside  to 
take  care  of  the  horses,  which,  like  their  mistress, 
had  grown  old  and  queer  and  seldom  left  the  stable.  The 
man  was  coachman  or  gardener  or  footman  or  companion  as 
occasion  required.  His  home  was  in  one  of  the  small  octagonal 
gate-houses,  where  he  kept  the  key  of  the  great  gate  and  slept 
at  night  on  guard. 

The  period  of  insane  activity  had  lapsed  into  a  period  of 
insane  seclusion,  perhaps  induced  by  the  weight  of  years.  The 
sentinel  with  a  wooden  gun  no  longer  stood  at  the  gate,  and  the 
Amazon  on  horseback  at  the  head  of  her  tattered  army  no 
longer  circled  the  grounds  on  summer  mornings. 

The  house  had  grown  shabby  for  want  of  repairs.  The  paint 
was  dingy.  The  grounds  were  unkept ;  weeds  and  bushes  grew 
rank  along  the  paths  and  spread  their  mantles  of  green  over 
the  ledges  of  rocks,  and  pushed  their  fronds  through  the  pal- 
ings of  the  old  fence;  and  as  the  years  passed  by,  their  steady 
growth  pushed  the  palings  out  of  place.  The  Venetian  blinds 
were  closed  as  though  the  house  were  a  house  of  the  dead,  only 
a  glimmer  of  candlelight  showing  through  the  broken  slats  at 
night  and  like  a  restless  thing  moving  from  window  to  window. 

To  the  curious  neighbors  who  peeped  through  the  bars  of 
the  gate,  rarely  was  a  moving  object,  visible  on  the  grounds, 
and  above  the  great  chimneys  only  a  thread  of  smoke  hung 
at  rare  intervals  to  indicate  that  there  was  life  in  the  rooms 
below. 

Within,  the  house  was  equally  forlorn  and  shabby,  a  gloomy 
interior  where  the  fresh  air  and  the  sunlight  found  it  difficult 

to 


A  Mad-House 


187 


to  enter,  and  where  cleanliness  was  not  encouraged.  Dust  and 
stale  odors  lurked  in  the  wide  halls  and  shut-up  rooms,  and 
Madame  Jumel  roamed  about  her  empty  house  like  a  tragedy 
queen.  She  was  mentally  irresponsible,  and  she  seems  at  that 
time  to  have  lived  over  her  eventful  life,  supplying  the  social 
triumphs  she  had  failed  to  realize,  and  embellishing  it  with 
other  fantastic  dreams,  which  have  been  accepted  as  tradi- 
tions of  the  house. 

Although  a  recluse,  she  was  far  from  alone.  She  peopled  the 
rooms  with  distinguished  visitors  and  sat  on  a  dais  to  receive 
royal  guests.  Former  occupants  of  the  house  and  personages 
of  her  fertile  imagination  touched  elbows  at  these  social  and 
political  salons  in  dreamland.  Washington  and  Burr  and  Mary 
Philipse  and  Charles  O'Conor  and  red  Indians,  strewing  palm 
branches,  mingled  with  the  Bonapartes  and  the  Duke  of 
Palermo  and  the  Khedive  of  Egypt.  She  had  their  exploits 
and  sayings  at  her  tongue's  end,  and  could  point  out  the  beds 
they  had  slept  in  and  their  favorite  chairs,  and  recount  the 
compliments  they  had  paid  her,  and  the  honors  she  had  con- 
descended to  extend  to  them.  Then  there  were  the  treasured 
recollections  of  her  career  in  Paris,  crusting  the  walls  in  small 
frames  of  every  variety;  there  were  framed  visiting  cards  and 
framed  death  notices,  as  the  formal  announcement  of  the  loss 
of  her  husband  by  Madame  de  la  Pagerie ;  the  three  letters  of 
Joseph  Bonaparte,  and  one  of  his  agent,  Joseph  Curret ;  invi- 
tations by  titled  people  and  even  regrets  of  distinguished 
Parisians.  There  were  donations  and  acceptances  and  silhou- 
ettes and  newspaper  clippings,  all  framed,  and  each  affording 
its  little  grain  of  comfort  to  the  demented  lady. 

Even  during  this  period  of  seclusion,  she  sometimes  ven- 
tured into  the  world  outside  with  her  keeper,  but  not  on  foot, 
for  she  would  scorn  to  walk  abroad.  She  was  still  mistress, 
and  the  old  gray  horses  would  be  harnessed  to  one  of  the  tat- 
tered carriages,  and  the  great  gate  would  be  unlocked  for  the 
passage  of  my  lady  in  state. 

Few  saw  her  at  this  period,  except  as  some  one  of  the  house- 
hold that  she  had  driven  out  occasionally  looked  in,  or  John 
Howard  Smith,  the  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Intercession, 
or  her  physician,  or  such  other  persons  as  necessity  compelled 

her 


Dust  and  stale 
odors  lurked  in 
the  wide  halls 


Some  of  the  im- 
aginary guests 
that  passed 
through  the 
throne-room 


Sometimes  she 
rode  out  into  the 
world  outside  be- 
hind the  old  gray 
horses 


i88 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


One  of  her  visi- 
tors was  Air. 
Bailey,  the 
plumber 


Her  appearance 
was  fantastic 
and  her  dress 
was  shabby  and 
unkempt 


She  is  visited 
by  a  party  of  girls 
conducted  by  Mr. 
"John  Appleton 
Haven 


A  strange  story 


her  to  call  in.  One  of  these  was  the  plumber,  Mr.  Bailey,  who 
died  in  1912  at  an  advanced  age.  Mr.  Bailey  said  that  the 
house  was  an  arsenal  of  firearms,  and  that  this  was  particu- 
larly true  of  her  own  room,  now  known  as  the  "Washington 
Bedroom."  These  arms  were  distributed  in  places  where  she 
thought  they  would  be  most  available  in  case  the  house  should 
be  attacked  by  robbers.  She  would  boast  of  her  marksman- 
ship. One  day  taking  a  pistol  from  a  table  in  her  room,  she 
called  Mr.  Bailey's  attention  to  a  distant  tree  where  she  said 
a  bird  was  sitting,  and  assured  him  that  she  could  take  off  his 
head  at  the  first  shot. 

Her  personal  appearance  at  this  time  was  as  fantastic  as 
her  imaginings  —  her  dress  was  slovenly  and  unkempt  ex- 
cept when  she  put  on  her  ill-assorted  finery  to  sit  in  state  on 
her  dais  in  the  great  drawing-room,  to  receive  some  real  or 
imaginary  guest.  Her  idiosyncrasies  were  long  treated  with 
reverence  by  the  family  whom  she  had  expelled  from  the  house, 
and  who  returned  to  it  after  her  death  as  her  heirs.  Nelson 
Chase  once  said  to  a  young  lady,  to  whom  he  was  showing 
the  house,  "That  is  the  room  in  which  my  aunt  died.  You 
may  not  enter";  and  a  moment  later,  after  showing  her  the 
view  from  the  balcony,  "You  may  now  depart."  The  movable 
dais  was  still  standing  in  the  drawing-room  in  1868,  three 
years  after  Madame  Jumel  had  passed  away. 

Her  mental  condition  at  this  time  and  conditions  in  the 
house  are  vividly  portrayed  in  a  remarkable  paper  prepared  by 
a  young  girl  immediately  after  her  visit  to  Madame  Jumel 
in  1862.  She  was  one  of  a  party  of  girls  conducted  by  Mr. 
John  Appleton  Haven,  whose  country  place  was  near  by.  The 
writer,^  now  dead,  was  afterwards  a  married  woman  of  great 
social  prominence  in  the  State,  and  her  description  of  the 
appearance  of  Madame  Jumel,  and  particularly  of  the  articles 
of  her  clothing,  is  given  as  only  a  woman  could  give  it. 

I  wish  to  write  down  the  facts  connected  with  my  visit  to 
Madame  Jumel  at  Fort  Washington,  for  the  stories  she  related 
of  herself  are  so  very  remarkable  that  I  fear  in  relating  them  I 
might  either  exaggerate  them,  or  that  from  fear  of  drawing  too 
largely  on  my  imagination  I  might  fail  to  do  them  justice. 

It 

'  Miss  Parker,  afterwards  Mrs.  John  V.  I.  Pruyn,  of  Albany,  New  York. 


A  Mad-House 


189 


It  was  with  great  difficulty  we  gained  admittance  to  the  place, 
Mr.  Haven,  his  daughter.  Miss  Treadwell,  and  myself,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1862,  although  Aladame  appointed  a  day  and  hour  to  see  us 
and  appeared  to  be  delighted  with  the  prospect  of  a  call  from 
"young  girls."  The  second  appointment  was  made  after  the 
failure  of  the  first,  and  we  found  the  gate  locked  as  usual;  but 
we  sent  the  coachman  over  the  fence,  who  returned  from  the 
house  with  a  message  from  Madame  saying  she  was  waiting  to 
receive  us,  and  the  Irishman  came  with  the  key  to  let  us  in.  I 
felt  as  though  we  had  even  then  when  within  the  gates  achieved 
a  victory.  There  she  stood  on  the  front  doorsteps,  which  were 
painted  with  blue  moons  on  a  lavender  floor  —  a  more  fearful 
looking  old  woman  one  seldom  sees  —  her  hair  and  teeth  were 
false  —  her  skin  thick,  and  possessing  no  shadow  of  ever  having 
been  clear  and  handsome  —  her  feet  were  enormous,  and  stock- 
ings, soiled  and  coarse,  were  in  wrinkles  over  her  shoes  —  on  one 
foot  she  wore  a  gaiter  and  on  the  other  a  carpet  slipper.  Her  dress, 
or  the  skirt,  which  was  all  that  was  visible,  was  a  dyed  black  silk 
with  stamped  flounces,  three  of  them,  such  as  were  worn  six  or 
eight  years  ago.  It  was  very  rusty  and  narrow  in  the  skirt.  She 
wore  a  small  hoop,  which  in  sitting  down  she  could  not  manage, 
so  that  it  stood  up,  displaying  her  terrible  feet.  Over  her  shoulders 
she  wore  a  rusty,  threadbare  black  velvet  talma  —  and  a  soiled 
white  merino  scarf  around  her  neck  —  her  cap  was  made  of  hum- 
bug white  blonde  and  cotton  black  lace  and  had  long  pea-green 
streamers.  Her  appearance  was  anything  but  neat.  Such  was 
the  sight  that  greeted  us  —  and  this  was  the  fabulously  wealthy 
and  elegant  Madame  Jumel,  who  received  such  unbounded  atten- 
tion in  Europe  not  only  from  nobility  but  from  royalty  itself. 

She  received  us  as  if  we  were  all  duchesses  and  she  a  queen. 
She  called  our  attention  to  the  splendid  view  before  we  went  in. 
There  at  our  left  was  the  East  River  and  a  distant  view  of  High 
Bridge  and  New  York  far  beyond.  Her  place  must  have  been 
superb  before,  and  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  to  Col.  Burr  — 
but  now  it  is  sadly  neglected.  The  house  is  beautifully  planned  — 
two  large  square  halls  and  a  parlor  back  of  them  and  opening 
with  an  arch,  so  that  as  you  enter  the  idea  strikes  you  that  there 
are  three  halls.  On  the  left  is  a  parlor,  and  back  of  that  a  dining- 
room;  on  the  right  Is  a  sitting-room,  and  back  of  it  a  staircase 
which  is  not  visible  as  you  enter.  I  am  thus  particular  as  the 
place  is  so  historical,  and  the  plan  which  is  not  a  bad  one  may  be 
of  some  practical  use  some  day.  Everything  looked  as  if  it  was 
many  years  since  they  had  been  dusted,  and  the  atmosphere  was 
very  disagreeable  —  as  though  fresh  air  was  unknown. 

These  two  halls  had  inlaid  tables,  choicely  and  beautifully  set 
in  gilt  frames,  hanging  baskets  and  etageres  covered  with  articles 
of  virtu.     The  walls  were  hung  with    rare    paintings  —  one  es- 
pecially, a  full  length  of  General  Washington,  which  was  my  ad- 
miration. 


There  she  stood 
on  the  front  door- 
steps., which  were 
painted  with 
blue  moons  on  a 
lavender  Jioor . . 
on  one  foot  she 
wore  a  gaiter 
and  on  the  other 
a  carpet  slipper 


The  atmosphere 
was  very 
disagreeable 


ipo 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Over  the  boy's 
face  was  sewed 
a  piece  of  black 
stuff 


Her  coach- 
man's livery  coat 
hung  by  the  side 
board 


"  I  will  bring  out 
the  priest  and 
to-morrow  you 
shall  be  my 
Wife 


miration.  A  large  painting  of  a  lady  and  two  children,  a  boy  and 
a  girl,  hung  on  the  left.  The  size  was  enormous,  and  the  frame 
of  maroon  velvet  ornamented  with  a  gilt  vine.  Madame  said 
it  was  her  design,  the  frame.  It  was  a  likeness  of  herself  taken  in 
Rome  within  ten  years,  and  the  children  were  a  niece  and  nephew 
of  M.  Jumel's.  Over  the  boy's  face  was  sewed  a  piece  of  black 
stuff.  "Ah,"  said  Mr.  Haven  with  his  fine  old-school  manners,  — 
"ah,  Madame,  what  has  happened  to  mar  so  fine  a  painting?" 
"  Sir,"  she  replied,  "  I  placed  that  patch  there  with  my  own  hands ; 
his  character  is  defaced  and  not  the  picture.  There  it  shall  re- 
main until  he  redeems  himself."  We  learned  afterwards  that  the 
nephew  ran  oflF  when  fifteen  years  old  with  a  woman  much  older 
than  himself,  who  wanted  his  fortune,  and  that  Madame  had 
discarded  him.  The  niece,  Eliza,  met  and  married,  when  in 
Europe  ten  years  ago  with  Madame,  a  preacher,  a  Mr.  Perri  or 
Perrer,  and  they  live  in  New  York  City.  She  will  probably  in- 
herit all  this  fabulous  wealth  which  Madame  hoards  so  carefully. 
She  led  us  to  the  sitting-room  on  the  right  of  the  hall  where  there 
was  a  fire  in  the  grate  and  I  should  think  from  all  appearances 
she  lived  in  it  entirely.  The  place  was  chilly  like  all  houses  never 
aired,  and  the  fire  made  little  difference.  Her  coachman's  livery 
coat  hung  by  the  sideboard,  a  pair  of  soiled  stockings  lay  in  the 
corner,  on  the  table  was  a  Britannia  tray  and  tea-things  of  the 
same  metal  and  relics  of  a  forlorn  breakfast — a  dirty  molasses 
pot  and  a  shabby  cake  basket  of  grapes  —  all  of  Britannia  — 
completed  this  most  interesting  of  breakfasts.  We  were  very 
much  afraid  that  she  would  invite  us  to  eat  something,  but  she 
was  very  magnificent  and  amiable  in  her  manners  and  conversa- 
tion and  called  our  attention  to  the  superb  paintings  on  the  walls, 
where  they  were  bought,  etc.  We  were  curious  to  hear  her  talk 
of  Aaron  Burr,  and  when  she  alluded  to  him  incidentally  we 
asked  her  if  he  was  at  all  handsome.  "Ah,  my  child,"  she  replied, 
"he  was  a  wretch!"  And  then  she  told  the  following  story  which 
I  find  very  similar  to  the  one  told  by  Parton  in  his  life  of  Burr. 

He  was  in  the  habit  of  playing  whist  with  her,  and  drove  out 
very  often  to  spend  the  evening,  and  one  night  he  said  to  her, 
"Madame,  I  offer  you  my  hand;  my  heart  has  long  been  yours." 
She  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  said  she  replied  nothing,  think- 
ing he  was  in  jest,  but  the  next  night  he  came  and  said,  "We  must 
be  married,  Madame;  I  will  bring  out  the  priest  and  to-morrow 
you  shall  be  my  wife."  "  I  told  him  it  was  no  use,  that  I  was  faith- 
ful to  the  memory  of  M.  Jumel,  but  he  came  the  next  night  and 
I  heard  him  and  ran  in  fast  upstairs  to  avoid  seeing  him,  and 
Mr.  Chase  was  with  him.  He  saw  me  and  ran  after  me,  catching 
me  on  the  landing,  and  he  prayed  me  to  marry  Colonel  Burr  — 
that  he.  Chase,  would  be  ruined  if  I  did  not,  that  Burr  would 
turn  him  out  of  his  office  he  would  be  so  angry.  The  Colonel  had 
promised  him  the  deed  of  a  village  he  owned  on  the  North  River 

and 


Group  Portrait  of  Madame  Jumel  and  her  Grand-Niece  and 
Grand-Nephew 


A  Mad-House 


191 


and  ^150,000  from  Trinity  Church  which  he  was  to  receive  next 
week,  if  I  would  only  marry  him,  and,  poor  boy,  he  appealed  to 
my  sympathy,  but  I  did  not  mind.  I  tried  to  run  downstairs  and 
Burr  was  waiting  at  the  foot,  and  caught  my  hand  and  dragged 
me  to  the  parlor,  saying  the  priest  was  old  and  it  was  nearly 
midnight  and  I  must  not  detain  him  —  and  he  was  so  handsome 
and  brave  and  I  allowed  him  to  keep  my  hand  and  I  stood  up 
there,  pointing  to  the  place  in  the  parlor  on  the  left,  and  like  a 
fool  was  married  to  him!  The  wretch,  but  he  did  not  stay  here 
long." 

Who  this  Chase  is  I  do  not  know.  He  is  an  ordinary-looking 
man  but  has  a  keen  black  eye.  He  is  a  lawyer  and  intimate  with 
Charles  O'Conor.  They  two  are  called  the  steamboat  and  tug. 
On  dit  that  Chase  is  a  son  of  Aaron's  Burr's.  He  lived  until  the 
June  of  1862  with  Madame  at  Fort  Washington  and  looked  after 
her  property,  but  interfered  too  much,  Madame  said,  and  when 
he  came  home  from  town  one  night  he  found  his  luggage  and 
traps  all  thrown  in  a  heap  on  the  lawn  outside.  Since  that  time  he 
has  lived  in  town.  Madame  told  us  all  this,  and  that  Chase's 
wife  was  born  in  her  house,  the  mother  had  died,  and  she  (Madame) 
had  reared  her. 

She  says  Joseph  Bonaparte  came  to  this  country  to  marry  her 

—  he  knew  of  her  wealth  from  her  European  reputation,  and  she 
has  regretted  ever  since  his  death,  when  she  found  he  had  left 
three  millions  of  dollars,  that  she  had  snubbed  him.  He  lived  at 
Manhattanville  so  as  to  be  near  her  and  drove  up  to  see  her  every 
day,"  and,  in  fact,  bored  her  so  much  that  she  had  the  gate  locked, 
and  to  her  surprise  he  climbed  over  one  day  and  went  into  her 
kitchen,  and  she  thought  it  was  a  great  shame  for  the  ex-King 
of  Spain  to  be  in  her  kitchen  and  that  she  would  give  him  a  grand 
dinner  to  wipe  out  her  bad  treatment.  Colonel  Burr  and  many 
distinguished  guests  were  present,  and  Joseph  Bonaparte  praised 
the  table  so  much  that  she  has  kept  it  standing  to  this  day. 
There  in  the  dining-room  on  the  left  was  the  table  —  china,  glass, 
still  there,  and  gold  ornaments  and  pyramids  of  confections,  still 
standing  on  this  greasy,  dusty  table,  crumbled  and  moulded.  It 
is  a  la  Havisham  in  "Great  Expectations."  This  same  table  Mrs. 
Appleton  Haven  saw  twenty  years  ago.  It  is  unchanged  now, 
except  Madame  was  persuaded  by  Mrs.  O'Conor  that  it  was  im- 
prudent to  leave  so  many  gold  and  silver  ornaments  about,  so 
some  of  them  were  put  into  the  safe. 

Madame  Jumel  was  abroad  with  her  husband  for  twelve  or 
fifteen  years  receiving  great  attention  even  from  royalty,  and 
distinguished  herself  for  her  fine  manners  and  conversational 
talent.  She  is  at  this  time  eighty-four  years  old,  and  when  she 
was  seventy-two  went  abroad  again  taking  her  nephew  and  niece 

—  and  traveling  under  the  name  of  the  widow  of  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.   She  said  it  was  a  good  name  to  travel 

by, 


'■'■and  $1^0,000 
from  Trinity 
Church  which 
he  was  to  receive 
next  week  " 


They  are  called 
the  steamboat 
and  tug 


"Joseph  Bona- 
parte came  to  this 
country  to  marry 
her 


Gold  ornaments 
and  pyramids  of 
confections  still 
standing  on  this 
greasy  and  dusty 
table 


192 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  Vice  ^een 
of  America  —  it 
was  whispered 
that  she  had  come 
that  night  to  stab 
Louis  Napoleon 


"y^i6,  my  dear 
Madame"  ex- 
claimed the  re- 
lieved Emperor, 
"  when  did  you 
leave  Fort 
Washington  ?  " 


When  he  left  her 
he  kissed  her 
hand  six  times 


by,  although  she  had  never  adopted  it  in  this  country.  That 
when  they  were  in  Paris  she  went  to  a  ball  at  the  Tuileries  — 
that  her  toilet  was  magnificent,  and  this  we  heard  from  another 
lady  who  was  present  on  the  occasion,  that  she  was  one  blaze  of 
diamonds.  Madame  says  that  she  had  a  party  of  ladies  with  her 
and  when  she  entered  it  was  whispered  that  there  came  the  Vice 
Queen  of  America,  that  she  had  come  that  night  to  stab  Louis 
Napoleon,  and  to  beware  of  her.  So  she  said  when  she  heard  this 
she  thought  she  would  act  the  queen,  and  tossed  her  head  and  sat 
down,  surrounded  by  her  train  —  that  finally  she  thought  she 
would  go  and  speak  to  the  Emperor  —  he  had  been  dancing  with 
his  cousin,  Princess  Mathilde,  and  was  resting — so  she  arose, 
and  at  her  feet  on  a  lower  seat  was  sitting  Jerome  Bonaparte  and 
she  waved  her  hand  and  said,  "Make  way  for  the  Vice-Queen" 
—  and  he  arose  very  haughtily  and  looked  at  her  —  she  passed 
on  followed  by  her  train  and  stood  before  Louis,  and  stamping  her 
foot,  said,  "Sire  —  Sire"  —  another  stamping  of  her  feet  —  the 
court  were  behind  her  with  outstretched  arms  to  seize  the  dagger 
they  thought  she  carried.  "I  come  to  present  —  to  present  (a 
low  bow,  the  court  behind  made  another  step  in  advance)  — 
"to  present  myself  —  sire"  —  and  a  very  low  bow  —  "I  am 
the  widow  of  Colonel  Burr,  the  ex-President  of  the  United  States, 
and  am  Madame  Jumel  from  Fort  Washington."  "Ah,  my  dear 
Madame,"  exclaimed  the  relieved  Emperor,  "my  dear  Madame 
Jumel,  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you;  when  did  you  leave  Fort  Wash- 
ington," etc.,  etc.  "We  conversed  a  great  while  together,"  she 
said,  "about  my  place,  and  how  I  beat  him  at  whist,  but  I  did 
not  ask  him  for  the  money  he  owed  me."  It  seems  he  went 
poaching  in  or  near  Hoboken  and  was  arrested  and  went  to  Mr. 
Chase  to  get  him  out  of  trouble,  and  neither  of  them  having  the 
money  to  pay  the  judgment  given  by  the  court  against  Louis 
Bonaparte,  Mr.  Chase  borrowed  the  $200  or  $300  of  Madame 
Jumel,  who  was  never  refunded. 

When  she  was  at  Palermo  she  went  to  see  the  palace  of  the 
Duke,  and  the  great  door  opens  upon  seven  halls  lined  with  mir- 
rors from  ceiling  to  floor,  and  she  stamped  her  foot  and  said, 
"This  palace  shall  be  mine"  —  she  did  not  know  the  Duke  was 
a  widower,  but  the  woman  laughed  and  must  have  reported  her 
speech  to  her  master,  for  the  next  day  the  Duke  alighted  at  her 
lodgings  arrayed  in  laces  and  diamonds,  and  as  he  stepped  from 
his  carriage  a  friend  asked  him  where  he  was  going,  what  pre- 
sentation was  to  take  place,  and  he  replied  he  was  to  present 
himself  to  the  "Vice-Queen  of  America."  When  he  left  her,  he 
kissed  her  hand  six  times,  and  she  says,  to  use  her  own  language, 
"I  said  to  Eliza,  'that  man  is  going  to  bore  us,  let  us  go  to  Paris 
to-night,"  and  we  were  no  sooner  in  Paris  than  a  beautiful  letter 
in  French  came  from  the  Duke  offering  me  his  hand  and  half  of 
his  possessions  if  I  would  only  marry  him."    She  did  not  return 

the 


A  Mad-House 


193 


the  letter,  and  he  soon  made  his  appearance  and  implored  her  to 
marry  him,  but  she  replied,  "I  am  faithful  to  the  memory  of  M. 
Jumel.  I  bear  to  you  the  celestial  affection  that  the  Angels  in 
Heaven  bear  to  one  another — I  love  you  as  a  brother."  He 
kissed  her  hand  many  times  and  departed  "overcome  with 
grief." 

"My  dear,"  she  said  to  me,  "I  was  seventy-two  years  old, 
think  of  my  inspiring  such  love!  Parlez  vous  Fran^ais,  ma  chere?" 
"Yes,"  I  replied,  "I  speak  it  easily";  and  then  followed  a  long 
conversation  in  which  she  joined  with  as  much  ease  as  if  she  was 
twenty  or  a  Frenchman.  Complimented  me  on  my  style  and  pro- 
nunciation, and  told  me  I  should  see  the  Duke's  letter,  but  1  heard 
nothing  more  of  it.  She  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  seen  her  place  in 
Saratoga  called  the  "Tuileries,"  that  she  had  bought  it  in  ten 
minutes.  It  was  a  delightful  retreat.  That  she  had  not  been  there 
in  three  years,  as  Mr.  Chase  told  her  that  the  rich  men  in  the 
hotels  were  making  a  crown  of  precious  stones  for  her  to  crown 
her  Queen  —  and  that  she  was  so  frightened  at  the  prospect  that 
she  had  packed  up  and  returned  home  immediately  and  did  I 
think  she  could  go  the  next  summer  and  would  I  go  with  her.'' 
"Certainly,"  I  replied  —  and  where  should  she  send  me  word 
to  go  with  her.^  "To  Mrs.  Haven,"  I  replied,  which  seemed  to 
satisfy  her.  She  showed  us  a  framed  letter  she  had  written  in 
Saratoga  to  the  National  Guards  or  Grays  of  Syracuse  or  Utica, 
presenting  a  stand  of  colors,  and  the  reply  which  was  very  flat- 
tering. 

From  this  she  went  to  talk  of  the  war  and  her  sorrow  for  our 
troubles  —  she  betrayed  some  Southern  sympathy  which  vexed 
Mr.  Haven,  and  then  she  told  him  of  a  plan  she  had  heard  a  short 
time  before  from  Mr.  William  B.  Astor,  who,  she  said,  recog- 
nized her  team  before  a  shop  in  town  and  had  gone  in  to  speak  to 
her.  And  he  told  her  a  mighty  prophet  had  appeared  who  pre- 
dicted the  loss  of  a  ship  at  one  time  and  it  occurred,  and  then  fore- 
told when  the  war  would  come  to  pass,  and  that  now  he  said  the 
North  and  South  would  be  reconciled  by  making  Madame  Jumel 
Queen  —  what  did  we  think  of  the  plan,  etc. 

These  stories  I  have  written  are  among  the  most  remarkable 
ones.  My  patience  would  be  exhausted  to  write  more.  We  were 
there  for  more  than  two  hours,  and  then  could  only  get  away  by 
promising  to  come  again  very  soon.  She  followed  us  out  to  the 
carriage,  telling  us  of  her  religious  belief,  her  education  as  a 
Friend,  and  her  present  faith  in  the  Church,  and  her  great  belief 
in  the  Holy  Spirit.  She  related  some  marvelous  stories  of  her 
early  life  on  this  place  which  belonged  to  her  and  her  plans  for  a 
new  house  with  seven  halls  lined  with  mirrors.  She  had  much 
to  say  of  the  treasures  of  Captain  Kyd  buried  on  her  place  —  of 
the  times  when  the  Indian  massacres  took  place  and  of  General 
Washington's  intimacy  at  her  father's  house.    I  dare  say  there  is 

much 


'■'■I  was  seventy- 
two  y  tars  old; 
think  of  my 
inspiring  such 
love" 


The  rich  men  at 
Saratoga  were 
making  a  crown 
of  precious  stones 
to  crown  her 
^een 


The  war  between 
the  North  and 
the  South  could  be 
stopped  by  mat- 
ing her  ^ueen 


The  treasures  of 
Captain  Kyd 
were  buried  on 
her  place 


194 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Her  horses  art 
her  only  luxury 


"  My  aunt  never 
entertained 
Joseph  Bona- 
parte " 


Given  to  fantas- 
tic imaginings 
■which  had  no 
foundation  in 
fact 


much  truth  in  her  remarkable  stories,  but  living  alone  and  think- 
ing continually  of  the  days  gone  by  —  she  has  dwelt  so  much  on 
the  incidents  of  her  remarkable  life  that  they  are  all  magnified 
into  marvelous  stories.  She  has  but  two  very  inferior  servants 
who  have  charge  of  house,  horses,  and  place.  Her  horses  are  her 
only  luxury.  Her  meannesses  are  easily  accounted  for,  as  she 
thinks  all  who  have  an  interest  in  her  are  merely  so  for  her  great 
wealth  and  a  desire  to  make  something  from  her.  Her  horror  of 
Mr.  O'Conor  and  Mr.  Chase  seems  to  be  on  this  account.  They 
advised  her  strongly  to  make  a  will.  It  is  unfortunate  that  she 
has  no  children  to  interest  and  take  care  of  her.  A  childless  and 
forlorn  old  age  hers  has  proved  to  be,  in  spite  of  the  brilliancy  of 
her  youth  and  of  more  good  fortune  in  her  early  days  than  gen- 
erally falls  to  us.  This  verifies  my  belief  that  to  a  certain  extent 
all  things  are  equal. 

After  reading  this  remarkable  description  of  Madame  Jumel, 
and  particularly  of  the  table  standing  in  the  smallest  room  on 
the  dining-room  floor,  the  most  unlikely  place  for  a  banquet 
to  royalty,  I  went  to  see  the  grand-niece,  Mrs.  Caryl,  who 
had  passed  most  of  her  life  in  the  house,  and  who  was  the 
Eliza  to  whom  Madame  Jumel  remarked  that  the  Duke  was 
going  to  be  a  bore,  and  asked  her  about  the  dinner  to  Joseph 
Bonaparte.  She  said,  "My  aunt  never  entertained  Joseph 
Bonaparte." 

Thus  we  see  that  one  of  the  most  important  traditions  of 
the  house,  that  a  door  was  once  widened  by  Madame  Jumel's 
orders,  so  that  she  and  her  royal  guest  could  go  in  to  dinner 
side  by  side,  falls  to  the  ground.  The  story  itself  is  silly  be- 
cause there  never  could  have  been  a  door  in  this  colonial  house 
of  particularly  wide  doors,  through  which  two  persons  could  not 
easily  pass  together.  The  banquet  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  which 
was  the  parent  fable,  is  also  eliminated  from  the  facts  about 
the  house. 

It  will  be  readily  seen,  by  any  reader  of  the  experience  of  the 
Haven  party,  that  this  demented  lady,  dwelling  on  her  social 
ambitions  in  Paris  as  well  as  in  New  York,  and  on  her  rela- 
tions with  the  Bonaparte  family,  was  given  to  fantastic  imagin- 
ings which  had  little  foundation  in  fact.  Nothing  could  be 
more  fantastic  than  her  evident  belief  that  the  table  and  its 
crumbled  ornaments,  which  she  maintained  for  years,  were 
the  remains  of  a  banquet  which  she  had  given  to  an  imaginary 

royal 


A  Mad-House 


95 


royal  guest,  except  the  table  of  Miss  Havisham  in  "Great 
Expectations,"  where  the  bride's  cake  was  buried  in  cob- 
webs and  fungus,  from  their  holes  in  which  the  black  beetles 
and  the  speckled-legged  spiders  emerged  and  left  their  tracks 
the  dust  on  the  tablecloth.    But  Dickens  out-imagined 


m 


Madame  Jumel,  with  his  banquet-room  dimly  lighted  with 
candles,  in  the  house  of  his  crazy  woman,  where  all  the  clocks 
had  stopped  at  twenty  minutes  to  nine.  There  was  no  need  of 
stopping  the  clocks  in  the  Jumel  Mansion,  where  the  banquet 
had  been  a  banquet  of  triumph,  while  Miss  Havisham's  was 
a  banquet  of  disappointment.  The  similarity  of  conditions, 
however,  is  so  striking  that  some  have  thought  that  when 
Dickens  was  in  America  he  may  have  paid  a  visit  to  Ma- 
dame Jumel  and  have  seen  in  her  the  prototype  of  poor  Miss 
Havisham. 

Although,  at  the  time  of  the  visit  of  the  Haven  party,  this 
mouldering  banquet  table  was  standing  in  the  small  room, 
there  is  abundant  evidence  that  it  was  originally  spread  in  the 
great  drawing-room  at  the  end  of  the  hall  and  that  it  had  been 
standing  there  for  many  years.  Miss  Parker  tells  us  that  Mrs. 
Appleton  Haven  had  seen  the  same  table  twenty  years  before. 
That  would  put  the  date  of  the  banquet  table  as  far  back  as 
1842.  This  would  carry  the  insanity  of  Madame  Jumel  back 
to  1842,  for  no  sane  person  could  possibly  have  taken  such  ac- 
tion. The  long  lease  of  the  mansion,  during  which  Madame 
Jumel  lived  in  the  city,  ended  in  1839,  and  the  spreading  of 
this  table  must  have  taken  place  at  about  the  time  of  her  re- 
turn to  her  own  house.  This  was  ten  years  before  she  went 
abroad  for  the  last  time,  taking  with  her  the  children  of  Nel- 
son Chase,  when  she  arranged  the  marriage  of  her  niece  at 
Bordeaux,  and  sat  for  the  portrait  in  Rome  and  bought  the 
green  liveries  in  Paris.  She  was  insane  then,  but  it  was  that 
kind  of  insanity  that  is  often  firmly  dominated  by  great 
shrewdness  in  money  matters  and  which  passes  for  eccentricity. 

The  interesting  question  now  arises  as  to  the  period  when  the 
table  was  removed  from  the  great  drawing-room  to  the  small 
room,  —  from  the  court-martial  room  of  General  Washington's 
time  to  the  guardroom  where  the  prisoners  awaited  trial,  — 
and  as  to  the  motive  that  prompted  her  to  make  the  change. 

It 


The  bride  i  cake, 
from  their  holes 
in  which  the 
black  beetles  and 
the  speckled- 
legged  spiders 
emerged 


Airs.  Appleton 
Haven  had  seen 
the  same  table 
twenty  years  * 
before 


It  was  a  kind  of 
insanity  often 
dominated  by 
great  shrewdness 
in  money  matters 


196 


The  Jutnel  Mansion 


It  was  during 
this  period  that 
we  first  hear  of 
the  raised  plat- 
form 


What  befel 
Mr.  Bailey.,  the 
plumber 


On  his  head  he 
won  a  red  fez. 
As  soon  as  he  saw 
Mr.  Bailey  he 
cried  in  a  loud 
voice.,  ^^I'll  hang 
your  jaw  " 


It  was  during  this  period  of  seclusion  that  we  first  hear  of 
the  raised  platform  erected  in  the  great  drawing-room,  on 
which  Madame  Jumel  sat  to  receive  her  guests,  providing 
they  were  sufficiently  distinguished;  and  it  is  probable  that 
when  she  made  that  room  into  a  throne  room,  she  found  it 
necessary  to  remove  the  table  to  another  room.  It  was  before 
the  visit  of  the  Haven  party  that  she  advertised  for  a  com- 
panion. The  advertisement  was  answered  by  an  English  lady, 
who,  at  the  time,  was  living  in  Flushing,  Long  Island.  When 
the  lady  presented  herself  at  the  mansion,  she  found  Madame 
Jumel  dressed  in  a  gown  of  red  satin  and  seated  on  her  throne 
waiting  to  receive  Governor  Hoffman. 

These  outbursts  of  insane  eccentricity  were  sometimes  as 
amusing  as  they  were  fantastic.  On  one  occasion  when  Mr. 
Bailey,  the  plumber,  was  approaching  the  house  with  a  bill 
for  some  recent  plumbing,  she  saw  him  coming  up  the  walk 
leading  to  the  front  door,  and,  calling  from  the  window  of  her 
room,  she  bade  him  wait  until  she  was  ready,  as  she  wished  to 
receive  him  in  the  French  style.  After  some  delay  she  reap- 
peared at  the  window. 

"Now,  Mr.  Bailey,"  she  said,  "go  up  and  tap  gently  on  the 
knocker  three  times  and  my  valet  will  open  the  door  and  ad- 
dress you  in  French." 

"  But  I  don't  understand  French,  Madame." 

"Never  mind,"  she  said,  "do  as  I  say." 

So  Mr.  Bailey  knocked  as  directed  and  the  door  opened,  re- 
vealing the  coachman,  who  was  a  small  Irishman,  rigged  up 
in  a  chintz  wrapper,  hitched  up  and  tied  around  his  waist  with 
a  string  to  keep  it  off  the  floor.  On  his  head  he  wore  a  red  fez, 
and,  as  soon  as  he  saw  Bailey  he  cried  in  a  loud  voice,  — 

"  I  '11  bang  your  jaw." 

"What's  the  matter  John?"  said  Mr,  Bailey. 

"I'll  bang  your  jaw." 

Then  Madame  Jumel,  listening  over  the  stairs,  heard  the 
language  of  her  valet,  and  called  down :  — 

"What  do  you  mean,  John.?  Did  n't  I  tell  you  to  say,  'Bon 
jour'?" 

Madame  Jumel  died  on  the  i6th  of  July,  1865,  in  the  last 
year  of  the  Civil  War.  Her  remains  rest  in  the  Jumel  tomb  in 

Trinity 


The  Drawing-Room 


A  Mad-House 


197 


Trinity  Cemetery,  on  the  slope  overlooking  the  broad  Hud- 
son, while  the  remains  of  Stephen  Jumel  lie  in  the  consecrated 
ground  of  the  old  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  on  Prince  Street. 

The  poor  demented  lady  breathed  her  last  in  that  chamber 
of  the  old  house  known  as  the  "Washington  Bedroom."  She 
may  be  said  to  have  died  in  state  as  a  grande  dame  should, 
decked  in  all  her  jewels  and  powdered  and  rouged  to  the  end. 
And  this  is  no  flight  of  imagination,  but  the  very  circum- 
stantial testimony  of  a  Mrs.  E.  W.  J.,  who  as  a  young  girl 
saw  Madame  Jumel  on  her  death-bed.  She  relates  that  she 
was  brought  into  the  house  by  the  doctor  in  attendance,  and 
led  to  the  upper  hall,  where  she  was  allowed  to  look  through 
the  door  into  the  sick-room.  She  saw  an  old  woman  lying  in 
bed  whose  cap  was  gay  with  pink  ribbons  and  whose  face  was 
very  much  powdered  and  rouged. 

Although  she  has  forgotten  the  doctor's  name,  she  remem- 
bers that  he  told  her  that  Madame  Jumel  insisted  on  having 
her  face  powdered  and  rouged  every  day. 


She  may  he  said 
to  have  died 
in  state  as  a 
'■'■grande  dame" 
should 


198 


Fables  published 
periodically  in  the 
magazines  and 
Sunday  news- 
papers 


Some  of  the 
things  that  it  is 
claimed  she  was 
andSd 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE   JUMEL   FABLES 

THE  story  of  Madame  Jumel  has  never  before  been 
written,  but  for  more  than  a  generation,  a  series 
of  fables  has  been  current,  published  periodically 
in  the  magazines  and  Sunday  newspapers,  to  which, 
now  and  then,  a  handsome  addition  has  been  made  by  some 
ambitious  newspaper  ^sop.  The  disposition  to  add  a  newly 
coined  fable  to  the  sum  of  the  fables  that  make  up  the  popu- 
lar story  of  Madame  Jumel,  exemplifies  a  peculiar  phase  of  the 
newspaper  mind.  The  new  fable  may  be  merely  a  playful 
flight  of  the  writer's  imagination,  or  a  desire  to  make  additional 
copy,  or,  by  its  exaggeration,  may  constitute  a  satirical  thrust 
or  a  covert  sneer  at  what  has  gone  before.  Whether  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  the  addition  of  the  new  fable  indicates  the 
disbelief  of  the  writer  in  the  statements  he  has  already  made. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  Madame  Jumel  was  born  at  sea 
of  mysterious  and  unknown  parentage ;  that  she  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Napoleon  Bonaparte ;  that  she  was  a  Capet ;  that  she 
was  born  in  France ;  that  she  was  of  royal  blood ;  that  she  en- 
tertained the  Bonapartes  and  other  royalties  and  celebrities; 
that  she  held  a  political  salon  in  the  mansion;  that  she  was 
over-intimate  with  Alexander  Hamilton;  that  she  habitually 
drove  about  in  a  yellow  coach  with  her  postilions  in  livery; 
that  she  was  a  figure  at  the  French  Court ;  that  she  was  a 
friend  of  Louis  Philippe,  and  of  Louis  XVIII,  and  of  Charles  X, 
and  of  Talleyrand,  and  of  Dolly  Madison,  and  that  M.  Jumel 
received  presents  from  the  great  Napoleon,  and  indirectly 
from  the  Khedive  of  Egypt. 

They  are  cheerful  and  ambitious  fables  and  among  them 
all  is  one  lonely  fact,  the  fact  that  Madame  Jumel  married 
Aaron  Burr,  and  that  event  is  embellished  with  a  set  of  minor 

fables. 


The  Jumel  Fables 


199 


fables.  While  Madame  Jumel  has  been  dead  but  fifty  years, 
as  much  mystery  surrounds  her  life  as  if  she  had  been  a  con- 
temporary of  Peter  Stuyvesant  and  Washington  Irving  had 
been  her  biographer. 

As  fables,  whether  secular  or  religious,  never  die,  the  pic- 
turesque stories  told  about  this  woman's  career  will  probably 
live  forever,  although  they  were  only  the  imaginings  of  her 
disordered  mind. 

The  story  of  the  underground  passage  from  the  house  to  the 
Harlem  River  and  the  claim  that  Washington  used  the  small 
balconies  over  the  side  doors  for  sentry  boxes  are  equally  absurd 
and  equally  untrue.  The  latter  claim  could  only  be  entertained 
by  persons  profoundly  ignorant  of  military  affairs. 

Madame  Jumel  seems  always  to  have  been  ready  to  give 
information  on  demand,  with  cool  indifference  to  facts.  The 
story  in  all  the  old  histories,  that  the  house  was  built  for  the 
bride  before  the  wedding  in  1758,  probably  originated  with 
Madame  Jumel.  The  Philipses  and  Morrises  having  all  left 
the  country,  the  most  natural  place  to  seek  information  about 
the  house  was  at  the  house  itself. 

When  she  weaves  us  the  legend  that  a  party  of  Indian 
braves  from  the  Six  Nations  laid  branches  of  laurel  at  Wash- 
ington's feet  in  the  "Council  Chamber,"  while  Aaron  Burr  was 
writing  a  letter  in  the  room,  we  might  think  that  this  informa- 
tion, at  least,  was  true,  and  that  she  got  her  information  from 
Burr  himself;  but  when  we  find  that  the  body  of  Indians  con- 
sisted of  only  two  sachems  of  the  Cayugas,  sent  down  by  Gen- 
eral Schuyler,  and  that  there  never  was  any  council  of  war  held 
in  the  house,  and  that  the  "Council  Chamber"  was  the  court- 
martial  room,  we  find  that  the  statements  were  all  romance. 
The  fact  is  that  two  chiefs  of  the  Cayugas  were  sent  down  by 
General  Schuyler  with  an  interpreter,  and  General  Washing- 
ton treated  them  very  much  as  Indians  used  to  be  treated  in 
Washington  when  it  was  desirable  to  impress  them  with  respect 
for  the  power  of  the  white  man.  On  October  i,  General 
Schuyler  wrote  to  General  Washington :  — 

Albany,  October  ist,  1776. 
Dear  Sir:  —  Two  Sachems  of  the  Cayugas,  who  have  been 
with  me  on  business,  expressed  an  inclination  to  visit  your  Ex- 
cellency, 


Ai  fables  never 
diCy  these  will 
probably  live 


The  fable  of  the 
building  of  the 
house  in  iy^8 


The  fable  of  the 
party  of  Indians 
bringing  laurel 
branches 


200 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


General  Schuyler 
to  General 
IVaihington 


General  Wash- 
ington to  General 


Schuylt 


'er 


The  Lafayette 
fable 


cellency,  which  I  greedily  embraced,  as  their  reports,  when  they 
return,  will  I  hope,  eradicate  the  various  accounts,  which  prevail 
among  the  savages  to  our  disadvantage,  they  go  down  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  Dean  the  interpreter  to  this  Department,  I  wish  if 
convenient  that  they  might  be  shown  as  much  of  our  force  as 
possible,  and  to  have  some  presents  made  them,  they  do  not  wish 
to  remain  above  a  day  or  two  with  you. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  most  respectfully,  your  Excellency's  most  Obedi- 
ient,  humble  servant. 

Ph.  Schuyler. 

On  Thursday,  the  loth  of  October,  General  Washington 
wrote  a  letter  to  General  Schuyler,  in  the  first  part  of  which  he 
gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  treatment  of  the  two  Indian 
chiefs,  whose  numbers  have  been  so  much  exaggerated  in  local 
history:  — 

Dear  Sir:  —  I  am  now  to  acknowledge  your  favor  of  the  first 
instant,  and  inform  you  that  the  two  Sachems  of  the  Caughnua- 
gas,  with  Mr.  Dean,  the  interpreter,  have  been  with  me  and 
spent  three  or  four  days.  I  showed  them  every  civility  in  my 
power,  and  presented  them  with  such  necessaries  as  our  barren 
stores  afford  and  they  were  pleased  to  take.  I  also  had  them 
shown  all  our  works  upon  this  island,  which  I  had  manned  to 
give  'em  an  idea  of  our  force,  and  to  do  away  with  the  false 
notions  they  might  have  imbibed  from  the  tales  which  had  been 
propagated  among  'em.  They  seemed  to  think  we  were  amaz- 
ingly strong  and  said  they  had  seen  enough  without  going  to  our 
posts  in  Jersey  or  to  the  other  side  of  Harlem  river.  They  took 
their  departure  yesterday  morning,  and  1  hope  with  no  unfavor- 
able impressions. 

Madame  Jumel  claimed  that  she  entertained  Lafayette  in 
the  mansion,  and  the  room  which  he  occupied  for  a  night  was 
pointed  out,  and  the  bed  on  which  he  slept  was  shown  to  visi- 
tors. The  old  mahogany  sofa-bedstead,  with  rolling  head-  and 
foot-board,  was  among  the  articles  removed  from  the  house 
in  1887.  When  Count  Lafayette  was  shown  the  bed  on  which 
his  great-grandfather  slept,  it  is  another  family  tradition 
that  he  burst  into  tears.  Lafayette  landed  in  New  York  on 
the  15th  of  August,  1824,  and  left  the  country  at  about  the 
same  date  in  August,  1825.  Madame  Jumel  was  living  in 
France  from  1821  to  1826. 

A  similar  alibi  disposes  of  the  nest  of  fables  that  have  con- 
nected Madame  Jumel's  name  with  that  of  Louis  Napoleon. 

He 


'The  Hall  of  the  House 

Shoiving  the  Draii-hig-Room  at  the  End  of  the  Fista 


The  Jumel  Fables 


20I 


He  left  France  in  November,  1836,  and  returned  in  1837.  This 
was  his  only  visit  to  America  and  Madame  Jumel  did  not 
occupy  the  mansion  between  the  years  1834  and  1839. 
Louis  Napoleon  was  in  America  for  less  than  one  year,  and 
during  the  five  years  that  she  rented  the  house  to  strangers, 
and  thought  about  it  only  as  a  house  to  be  avoided.  There- 
fore, the  stories  that  she  entertained  him  at  the  mansion,  that 
she  played  chess  with  him,  that  she  loaned  him  money,  and 
that  she  was  afterwards  received  at  Court  and  was  repaid  the 
loan,  and  that  she  received  a  necklace  of  diamonds  from  the 
Empress  Eugenie,  are  all  fabrications. 

She  did,  however,  attend  the  court  ball  at  the  Tuileries  in 
1852,  when,  with  her  niece,  she  was  invited  by  Prince  Louis 
to  attend  the  ceremony  of  presenting  the  Eagle  at  the  Champs 
de  Mars.  The  invitation  to  the  court  ball  was  readily  ob- 
tainable through  the  American  Minister,  and  the  invitation 
to  the  ceremony  of  "Presenting  the  Eagle"  may  have  gone 
with  it.  "  Eliza,"  her  niece,  who  was  traveling  with  Madame 
Jumel  in  1852,  wrote  to  her  father  from  Edinburgh  that 
they  had  remained  longer  in  Paris  than  they  had  intended,  in 
order  to  accept  an  invitation  from  Louis  Napoleon  to  attend 
the  ceremony  of  presenting  the  eagle  to  the  army,  at  the 
Champ  de  Mars.  Her  costume  worn  at  the  court  ball  and  the 
framed  invitation  of  Prince  Louis  were  among  the  treasures 
of  Madame  Jumel  in  her  irresponsible  old  age,  and  the  stories 
of  her  social  relations  with  Louis  Napoleon  seem  to  have  grown 
about  these  two  events.  Furthermore,  there  is  no  satisfac- 
tory evidence  that  any  of  the  Napoleonic  property  brought 
to  America  by  Madame  Jumel  was  given  to  Stephen  Jumel 
by  the  Emperor.  The  "campaigning  trunk,"  the  "Josephine 
table,"  the  furniture  owned  by  General  Moreau,  and  all  the 
other  relics  were  bought  by  Stephen  Jumel,  and  probably  at 
one  purchase,  when  his  wife  was  starting  for  America. 

Stephen  Jumel  was  still  generous;  and  now  that  she  is  leav- 
ing him  for  a  final  separation,  besides  giving  her  "Jumel  Man- 
sion" and  its  beautiful  grounds,  and  valuable  property  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  he  gives  her  an  outfit  of  curios,  which  she 
can  bring  home  as  Napoleonic  gifts,  to  help  a  little  in  another 
bid  for  social  recognition. 

She 


The  nest  of 
Louis  Napoleon 
fables 


Some  facts  that 
are  not  fables 


Stephen  fumel 
was  still  generous 


202 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Thefablt  of  the 
cypress  trees 


She  imagined  that  she  had  refused  to  marry  Joseph  Bona- 
parte and  that  she  had  made  amends  to  his  wounded  feeHngs 
by  giving  him  a  banquet  at  which  other  distinguished  guests 
sat  down.  AH  of  the  Jumel  traditions  are  untrustworthy,  and 
the  more  fantastic  they  are  the  more  certainly  are  they  the 
imaginings  of  her  disordered  mind.  None  of  these  traditions 
is  more  fantastic  or  more  ridiculous  than  the  story  of  the 
cypress  trees  given  by  the  Khedive  of  Egypt  to  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  and  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte  to  Stephen  Jumel, 
who  had  gone  to  France  expressly  to  bring  the  great  Emperor 
to  America  and  to  Jumel  Mansion. 


i#« 


203 


CHAPTER    XIX 


INVOKING   THE   LAW 


t 

AFTER  Madame  Jumel's  death,  and  following  the 
reading  of  her  will,  began  a  period  of  litigation 
that  continued  for  nearly  twenty  years,  absorb- 
ing the  great  estate  until  the  resident  heirs  were 
shorn  of  everything  except  the  old  house  and  the  grounds  sur- 
rounding it.  The  original  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  acres 
on  the  Heights  that  had  belonged  to  Stephen  Jumel  had  shriv- 
eled and  shrunk  to  the  dooryard  of  Jumel  Mansion. 

The  heirs  living  at  this  time  in  the  house  were  Nelson  Chase, 
now  a  widower,  and  the  families  of  his  married  son  and  daugh- 
ter. Wrangling  about  the  property  and  litigation  within  the 
household  had  so  estranged  the  inmates  that  at  times  there 
were  three  families  living  in  separate  apartments,  and  having 
no  intercourse  with  each  other. 

The  poor  demented  lady,  two  years  before  her  death,  had 
made  a  will,  devising  the  bulk  of  her  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty to  religious  and  charitable  societies,  not  forgetting  to  be- 
stow a  liberal  siim  on  her  favorite  pastor,  John  Howard  Smith, 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Intercession,  who  was  acting  as 
her  adviser  and  guide.  Irresponsible  and  incompetent  as  she 
was,  she  acted  under  good  advice,  and  the  making  of  her  will 
was  the  most  meritorious  act  of  her  life.  Besides  the  Church 
of  the  Intercession,  the  other  beneficiaries  of  her  will  were  the 
Society  of  the  New  York  Hospital,  the  New  York  Orphan 
Asylum,  the  New  York  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb ;  the  New  York  Institution  for  the  Blind :  the 
Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Destitute  Children  of  Seamen; 
the  Trustees  of  the  Fund  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Clergymen  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  New  York; 

the 


Litigation  began 
after  the  reading 
of  Madame 
Jumel's  will 


The  Church  of 
the  Intercession 
and  some  of  the 
ether  beneficia- 
ries of  her  will 


204 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  nephew  who 
threw  the  ink 
bottle  at  the  por- 
trait by  Alcide 
Ercole  not  men- 
tioned in  the  will 


The  yones family 
with  the  middle 
name  ofjumel 


the  Missionary  Society  for  Seamen  in  the  City  and  Port  of 
New  York;  the  American  Bible  Society;  and  an  Association 
for  the  Relief  of  Respectable,  Aged,  Indigent  Females  in  the 
City  of  New  York. 

Following  the  charitable  bequests  she  mentioned  in  her  will 
"Eliza  Jumel  Pery  and  Paul  Guillaume  Raymond  Pery,  her 
husband,  and  Matilde  Elizabeth  Georgiana  Pery."  William 
Inglis  Chase,  who  threw  the  ink  bottle  at  the  portrait  by 
Alcide  Ercole,  was  not  mentioned  in  the  will. 

In  the  suit  to  break  the  will,  each  society  or  individual 
named  as  a  beneficiary  was  represented  in  court  by  one  or 
more  lawyers  or  law  firms,  so  that  the  legal  profession  was  well 
represented  at  the  first  tilt  in  the  Jumel  lists.  This  will  was 
set  aside  on  the  ground  of  the  incompetence  of  the  testatrix, 
but  more  than  a  year  was  absorbed  in  the  legal  proceedings, 
so  that  it  was  in  November,  1866,  when  the  will  was  set  aside 
and  administrators  appointed  to  administer  the  estate.  The 
administrators  were  William  C.  Wetmore  and  William  B. 
Jones,  the  latter  a  claimant  on  the  estate  as  a  nephew  of  Ma- 
dame Jumel.  The  title  to  the  real  estate,  up  to  the  time  of  the 
death  of  Mary  Jumel  Bownes,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Nelson 
Chase,  had  been  in  her  name.  She  was  the  illegitimate  daugh- 
ter of  Madame  Jumel's  stepsister,  Polly  Clarke.  William  B. 
Jones,  the  administrator,  was  also  an  illegitimate  son  of  Polly 
Clarke,  and  associated  with  him  as  claimants  were  three  legiti- 
mate children  of  Polly  Clarke.  These  four  children  of  Polly 
Clarke  —  William  B.  Jones,  Stephen  Jumel  Jones,  Eliza  Jumel 
Tranchel,  and  Louisa  Jumel  Maddox  —  were  named  by  the 
court  as  the  nephews  and  nieces  of  Madame  Jumel  and  her 
only  heirs  at  law.  Judging  by  their  middle  names  they  had 
been  born  with  expectations.  These  were  the  brothers  and 
sisters,  legitimate  and  illegitimate,  whole  and  half,  of  Mary 
Jumel  Bownes,  deceased. 

To  put  aside  legal  verbiage,  the  court  found  that  Madame 
Jumel,  at  the  time  of  her  death,  was  the  owner  of  the  estate, 
and  that  these  children  of  her  stepsister,  not  of  her  blood,  were 
to  inherit.  It  was  a  curious  situation  arrived  at  by  the  appli- 
cation of  the  law  governing  illegitimacy;  a  situation  where  a 
well-intentioned  law  worked  injustice.   Probably  never  before 


or 


GENEALOGICAL  TREE  JUMEL  ESTATE 


JOHN  BOWEN 

HARBtED  PHOEBE  KELLY  IN  1771 

DIED  16TH  Mir  1766 


PHOEBE  KELLY 

B0RNIN17G7 

HARRIED  II  SII  JOHN  BOWEN  PN  1771 

MARRIED  12  NDi   JONATHAN  CLARK 

IN  MARCH  1790 

DEAD 


JONATHAN  CURK 

MARRIED  <1ST>  UNKNOWN 

MARRIED  (2  ND>  PHOEBE  aOWEN 

MARCH  1790 

DEAD 


UNKNOWN 

MARRIED  JONATHAN  CLARK 

DEAD 


POLLY  BOWEN 

BORN  1773 

DIED 


BETSEY  BOWEN 

NowN  tRFi>wiiBDS  u  wu  enoWN 
MARRIED  STEPHEN  JUMEL 

BTH  APRIL  1804 
MARRIED  AARON  BURR 

1ST  JULY  1833 

DIED1BTH  JULY18GG 

AGED  to  YEARS 


lOHNTHOMASIBOWEN? 

(ILLEGITIMATE) 


BORN  26TH  DEC.  1787 
MARRIED  JAMES  G.JONES 

IN  1808 
DIED  9  TH  MARCH  1857 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

BOWEN 

BORN  9TH  OCT.  179< 

LIVING 

ILLEGITIMATE 


JAMES  G.  JONES 

MARRIED  LAVINA  BALLOU  II 

DIED  1820 


POLLY  CLARK 

iREBWiRDS  KNOWN  «  MlRlA  BOWNE 

MARRIED  WILLIAM  JONES 

tSTH  DEC  1B05 

DIED  1850 


ANN  ELIZA  NIGHTINGALE 

ULLtGlTlMATE) 

BORN  I7IH  NOV.  1806 

MARRIED  JOHN  VANDERVOORT 

LIVING 


NELSON  CHASE 
MARRIED  MARY  BOWNES 


WILLIAM  JONES 

BORN  17TH  JUNE  1755 

MARRIED  MARIA  BOWNE 

I9TH  DEC  1805 

DIED  1849 


BETSEY  CLARK 

MARRIED  JOHN  PECK 

DEAD 


MARGARET  CLARK 

UNKNOWN 


MARY  BOWNES 

(  ILLEGITIMATE) 

80RN  IN  1801 

MARRIED  NELSON  CHASE 

JAN,  1832 

0rED1843 


WILLIAM  B.  JONES 


B0RN16TK  APRIL  1806 
LIVING 


ELIZA  J.  JONES 

BORN   28TH JANUARY  1808 

MARRIED  CHAS  J.  TRANCHELL 

LIVING 


LOUISA  J.JONES 

BORN  21ST  DEC.  1309 

MARRIED  ABM.MAODOX 

LIVING 


STEPHEN  J.  JONES 

BORN  3IST  DEC,1BI3 

LIVING 


ELIZA  J.  CHASE 

BORN  1836 

MARRIED  PAUL  R.G.PERRY 

IN  1864 

LIVING 


WILLIAM  I.CHASE 
BORN  1840 

LIVING 


COMPILED  BY 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  BOWEN 

DURING  TRIAL  OF 

GEO.  W.  BOWEN  versus  NELSON  CHASE 
J873 

r,-"  TRANSCRIBER'S '  o  i.,      l      ^        n  ...  .-. 

NOTE  '  Geofge  Washington  Bowen,  fJelson  Ctiase 

John  Reuben  Vandervoort;  Deceased  since  1873. 


TRANSCRIBED  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL  RECORDS 
REVISED  TO  DATE 


-BY- 


JAMES  WALLACE  TYGARD 

JUMEL  ESTATE  OWNER 

920  SOUTH  ^VENUE 

PLAINFIELD,  l|EW  JERSEY 
NOV.  9, 1912 


x:i 


JUMEU     ESTATE     DEEDS 


Power  Atty.  Stephen  Jomel  to  Eliza  B.  Jumel,  Dated  Maj  16,  183S. 

Deed  St«pbea  Jumel  &  Eliza  B.  Jumel  to  Mary  Jumel  Bownes,  Dated  Jul;  3D,  1837 

TroBt  Deed  Mary  Jumel  BowDei  to  UioliBel  Werckmelater,  Dated  Doc.  11, 1877. 

Trust  Deolaiatlon  Ellxa  B.  Burr  &  Michael  Werokmelster,  U.  3.  Sap.  Ct.  No.  312. 

Deed  Eliza  B.  Burr,  &llchael  WerckmeUter  St  Alei.  Hamilton,  January  10, 1834. 

Deed  Alex.  Hamilton  &  Wife  to  Miohael  WerokmeUter,  Dated  October  31, 183*. 

Deed  between  EUza  B.  Jumel,  Allchael  Werakmelster  and  FrauuU  PhiUipon. 

Deed  FrancU  PhlUipen  to  Elizii  B.  Jumel,  Dated  August  20,  1843, 

Deed  Stephen  Jumel  &  Eliza  B.  Jumel  to  Benjamin  Desoby,  Dated  June  3, 1616. 

Deed  Stephen  Jumel  &  Wife  to  Benjamin  Dosoby  ft  Othen,  Dated  Jan.  13. 1826. 

Deed  Elvy  Berger  &  John  R,  Skiddy  to  Mary  Jumat  Bowses,  Dated  -Tan.l,  1S2S. 

Deed  Mary  Jumel  Bownea  to  Michael  WerckmelBt«r,  Dated  May  13, 1828. 

Deed  between  SWphen  Jumel  &  Wife  &  Robert  J.  Maoey.  Dated  January  18,  182G. 


o  Stephen  Jumel,  Dated  June  3C.  1810.  Ub.  88,  Page  M, 


De«d  Leonard  Parkinson  t( 
New  York  Record*. 

DeedandPowerAtty.  Stephen  Jumel  to  Eliza  B.  Jumel,  Dated  July  1.1S36.  Litwr. 
2,  Page  88.  New  York  Records. 

Deed  Oerardo^  Post  &  Wife  to  Stephen  Jumel,  Dated  May  3, 1814.  Liber.  106,  Page 
261,  N.Y.  Records. 

Decision  Bowen's  Heirelilp.  8ve  Paige's  Chancery  Record.  Vol.  7,  Pa^o  691. 

Deed  George  Washington  Bowen  to  JohnIt*)uben  Vandervoort, DatedFeb.  28, 18SI. 
Recorded  Ubor.  2051.  Pago  474,  on  July  12.  1S87  N.  Y.  Records  and  in  CoDUty 
Clerk's  Office,  Saratoga  Springs,  N.Y.  July  'iS.  1887,  Deed  Book  178,  Page  66. 

Deed  John  Reuben  Vandervoort  t<i  James  Wallace  Tygard,  Dated  April  23,  ISOS. 
Recorded  April  27,  1903.  Block  Series  General  Conveyance,  Liber,  2,  Page  B5, 
N.  Y.  Records. 

Deed  James  Wallace  Tygard  to  Elizabeth  Ann  Tygard,  Dated  April  27, 1903.  Re- 
corded April  27, 1903.  In  Block  Series  ConTeyances,  Section  6,  Liber.  30,  Psge 
29,  Block  No.  2109,  N.Y.  Records, 

Deed  James  Wallace  Tygard  &  Elizabeth  Ann'l'ygard  to  .Toseph  Bird,  Dated  April 
27,  1903.  Recorded  April  27.  1903, 

Deed  James  Wallace  Tygard  &  Elizabeth  Ann  Tygard  to  Mark  F.Roberts. 

Deed  James  Wallace  Tygard  &  Elizabeth  Ann  Tygard  to  Mary  J.  Tygard. 

Dec'l  James  Wallace  Tygard  &  EUinbetb  Ann  Tygard  to  Mrs.  Ida  Tygard. 


Invoking  the  Law 


2-05 


or  since  has  the  aforesaid  statute  been  called  upon  to  work  its 
way  through  such  a  tangle  of  illegitimacy. 

While  these  distant  kinsfolk  (the  result  of  a  marriage  that 
was  no  marriage),  discovered  by  the  law,  were  actually  no 
relations  of  Madame  Jumel,  she  had  left  a  half-sister,  Lavinia, 
the  daughter  of  her  mother,  of  her  own  blood,  with  children 
and  grandchildren,  the  same  to  whom  Madame  Jumel  had 
paid  the  visit  at  the  bakery  in  Christopher  Street,  but  who 
was  barred  from  inheriting  because  she  was  illegitimate. 

Even  the  children  of  "Mary  Bownes,"  the  adopted  daughter 
and  the  wife  of  Nelson  Chase,  now  grown  up  and  married, 
with  children  of  their  own,  who  had  lived  on  the  property  all 
their  lives,  and  whose  mother,  until  her  death,  was  the  actual 
owner  of  the  estate  by  deeds  of  transfer  made  by  Madame 
Jumel,  were  barred  from  inheriting  by  the  illegitimacy  of 
their  mother  and  grandmother. 

Such  a  tangle  of  illegitimacy  drew  the  bar  sinister  across  the 
.path  of  the  claimants,  who  had  been  all  their  lives  in  possession 
and  enjoyment  of  the  Jumel  estate,  in  a  way  that  it  would  be 
hard  to  parallel  in  modern  times.  The  children  of  Polly  Clarke, 
after  she  began  to  be  a  married  mother,  were  each  given  the 
name  of  Jumel.  The  first-born  in  wedlock  was  a  son,  who  was 
named  Stephen  Jumel  Jones ;  he  was  given  the  honored  name  in 
full  measure.  Then  followed  Eliza  Jumel  Jones,  almost  equally 
well  provided  for,  and  lastly,  Louise  Jumel  Jones.  Perhaps  the 
mother  was  prompted,  in  part,  by  her  gratitude  to  her  step- 
sister, Madame  Jumel,  who  had  adopted  her  first  mistake.  It 
is  not  likely  that  she  ever  dreamed  of  her  legitimate  children 
securing  the  inheritance  of  her  first-born,  Mary  Bownes,  who 
had  been  reared  in  luxury  and  educated  in  Paris,  as  the 
adopted  daughter  of  the  Jumels,  but  that  was  what  the  court 
decreed,  as  it  interpreted  the  law  on  illegitimacy. 

This  strange  and  threatening  situation  was  so  well  under- 
stood by  the  heirs  in  possession  and  their  lawyers,  that  these 
dangerous  "  sole  heirs  "  of  Madame  Jumel  were  side-tracked  and 
disposed  of  just  thirteen  days  after  that  lady's  death.  The  Jones 
family,  with  the  middle  name  of  Jumel,  for  the  consideration  of 
forty  thousand  dollars,  gave  quitclaim  deeds  to  Nelson  Chase 
by  which  they  relinquished  all  claim  on  the  Jumel  estate. 

Nelson 


J  half-sister  is 
barred  from 
inheriting 
because  she  is 
illegitimatt 


A  tangle  of 
illegitimate  ties 
upon  the  Jumel 
estate 


These  trouble- 
some heirs  were 
side-tracked 


2o6 


Forty  thousand 
dollars  and  five 
thousand  for  pin 
money 


Count  "Joannes 
appears  as  one 
of  the  counsel 
and  afterwards 
carries  the  um- 
brella over 
Nelson  Chase 


Counter-suits  of 
the  Bowens, 
Ballous,  and 
Fandervoorts 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Nelson  Chase  and  his  family  at  this  time  were  in  debt,  with 
arrears  of  debt  to  the  city  for  unpaid  taxes,  and  with  no  ready 
money  at  hand  to  employ  lawyers  or  for  ordinary  expenses,  but 
the  estate  was  regarded  as  inexhaustible.  So,  when  raising  the 
forty  thousand  dollars  to  satisfy  the  Joneses,  an  extra  five 
thousand  dollars  was  borrowed  for  pin-money,  making  the 
round  sum  of  forty-five  thousand  dollars,  for  which  a  note  was 
given,  which  remained  on  interest  for  fifteen  years,  and  when 
it  was  paid  under  a  decree  of  the  court  in  1880,  it  had  grown 
to  the  bulk  of  $73,125.17. 

When  the  Jumel-Joneses  realized  that  they  had  sold  their 
claim  on  the  estate  for  too  small  a  sum,  several  suits  to  set 
aside  the  quitclaim  deeds  were  instituted  by  Stephen  Jumel 
Jones,  whose  attorney  was  no  less  a  personage  than  George, 
the  Count  Joannes  (who  was  ^Iso  a  Jones),  at  whom  the  col- 
lege boys  used  to  throw  vegetables  when  he  appeared  on  the 
stage  as  Hamlet.  It  is  a  tradition  of  the  Heights  that,  after 
the  breaking  of  the  will,  Nelson  Chase  was  so  elated  that  he 
celebrated  the  event  by  bringing  up  the  Count  Joannes  as  an 
attendant  or  companion.  The  pair,  as  they  appeared  on  the 
country  roads  together,  suggested  Don  Quixote  and  Sancho 
Panza,  except  that  the  position  of  master  and  man  was  re- 
versed. The  Count  was  tall  and  lean,  while  Chase  was  short 
and  fat.  The  Count,  who  carried  the  umbrella  over  his  diminu- 
tive companion,  would  sometimes,  in  a  moment  of  poetical 
absorption,  find  himself  far  ahead  with  no  one  at  his  side,  and 
be  brought  to  a  realization  of  his  position  by  a  volley  of  oaths 
from  the  little  man  back  in  the  sun. 

The  suits  and  counter-suits  brought  by  claimants  against 
the  estate  were  interminable  and  involved  to  a  degree  that  it 
is  unnecessary  to  follow  in  this  history.  The  Bowens,  Ballous, 
and  Vandervoorts,  descendants  of  Madame  Jumel's  mother, 
legitimate  or  otherwise,  swarmed  like  flies  over  the  sugar  bowl, 
but  the  most  important  suit  was  brought  by  George  Wash- 
ington Bowen,  the  illegitimate  son  of  Madame  Jumel,  which 
will  be  considered  in  a  separate  chapter. 

Following  Madame  Jumel's  death,  an  inventory  was  made 
of  the  real  and  personal  property  of  the  deceased.  The  per- 
sonal property,  enumerated  under  the  heads,   "Carriages, 

Horses, 


Invoking  the  Law 


207 


Horses,  Furniture,  Paintings,  Statuary,  Silverware  and  Glass- 
ware," was  listed  at  the  insignificant  sum  of  $1238.74.  In  the 
last  years  of  her  life,  owing  to  her  irresponsible  condition  and 
her  extreme  old  age,  the  establishment  of  a  woman  of  wealth 
had  dwindled  in  value  through  neglect  and  the  lapse  of  years. 
Included  in  the  appraisement  were  two  old  gray  horses,  valued 
at  thirty  dollars  each,  and  three  carriages,  at  twenty,  fifteen, 
and  five  dollars  each.  The  fifteen-dollar  vehicle  was  the  an- 
cient and^tattered  barouche  which  she  claimed  had  been  given 
to  her  by  King  Louis  Philippe. 

The  appraisement  further  included  a  balance  in  bank  of 
$3645  and  a  promissory  note  valued  with  interest  at  $18,240. 
Further  than  these  two  items  of  real  value,  any  stocks  or  bonds, 
jewelry  or  silver,  that  may  have  belonged  to  the  estate,  dis- 
appeared from  view  and  were  never  included  in  any  of  the 
litigation  that  followed. 

The  family  portrait  by  Alcide  Ercole  was  passed  by  cour- 
tesy by  the  appraisers.  None  of  the  so-called  "Napoleon 
relics,"  or  the  diamonds  and  jewelry  afterwards  shown  at  a 
fair  for  charity  in  Dr.  Vanderwater's  church  in  Harlem,  were 
found  by  the  appraisers.  There  was  not  a  single  piece  of  ster- 
ling silver  in  this  old  home  of  a  wealthy  family.  Even  the 
spoons  and  forks  had  vanished. 

There  were  jewels  somewhere.  Madame  Jumel  was  a  pecu- 
liarly vain  person,  who  for  many  years  had  been  able  to  spend 
money  lavishly,  and,  tempted  by  the  display  of  diamonds  in 
the  shops  of  Paris  and  New  York,  she  probably  possessed  a 
small  fortune  in  jewels.  The  vanity  that  demanded  that  her 
poor  withered  face  should  be  powdered  and  rouged  every  day, 
as  she  lay  on  her  death-bed,  would  as  certainly  have  decked 
her  person,  in  life,  with  all  the  jewelry  within  her  reach.  Such 
possessions  were  in  the  vaults  of  safe-deposit  companies,  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  appraisers.  It  has  been  asserted,  with 
much  detail,  by  the  Bowen  claimants  that  boxes  and  hampers 
were  buried  in  the  garden  on  the  night  before  the  visit  of  the 
appraisers  and  dug  up  shortly  afterwards. 

With  the  endless  litigation  outside  the  house  began  endless 
strife  within.  Three  years  after  Madame  Jumel's  death,  the 
mansion  was  occupied  by  three  families,  of  which  Nelson 

Chase 


The  appraise- 
ment of  the  be- 
longings of  a 
woman  of  wealth 


The  balance  in 
bank 


A  portrait  is 
passed  by  courtesy 


The  jewels  and 
silver  are  not 
found 


2o8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Three  families 
in  one  home  live 
separately 


Madame  "Jumel 
not  really  a  suc- 
cess as  a  match- 
maker 


A  thousand 
dollars  or  its 
equivalent^  five 
thousand  francs^ 
her  fixed  allow- 
ance for  the 
newly  wed 


Chase  was  one,  as  he  Uved  alone  and  dined  alone.  He  slept  in 
the  southwest  chamber,  known  as  the  "Burr  Room."  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Pery  occupied  the  "Washington  Bedroom,"  and 
the  family  of  William  Inglis  Chase  the  rooms  above  the  great 
drawing-room.  They  were  all  served  by  the  same  cook,  but 
they  entered  the  dining-room  at  different  periods.  This  con- 
dition was  the  natural  result  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  some 
of  the  inmates  had  been  born  and  in  which  all  of  them  had 
lived  most  of  their  lives.  It  was  an  atmosphere  of  suspicion, 
of  dissension,  of  dissipation. 

Madame  Jumel,  as  events  proved,  had  not  been  a  success 
as  a  matchmaker.  Although  she  had  secured  the  husbands 
and  brought  about  speedy  marriages  with  her  direct  business 
method,  the  results  were  far  from  satisfactory.  In  arranging 
these  marriages,  besides  securing  husbands  for  her  nieces,  her 
prime  object  was  to  secure  more  inmates  for  the  mansion, 
which  was  dreary  for  want  of  fellow  beings  to  speak  to.  She 
needed  some  one  to  live  with,  to  be  social  with,  to  quarrel 
with,  to  drink  with.  The  solitary  life  of  this  woman,  of  ample 
wealth,  in  her  great  house,  after  her  first  return  from  France, 
is  almost  unbelievable  at  this  time.  The  neighbor  families 
held  aloof  from  her  and  she  knew  that  their  doors  were  closed 
to  her.  The  efforts  she  made  to  secure  companionship  in  the 
house  were  pathetic.  She  adopted  children  who  left  her.  At 
each  of  the  marriages  of  her  nieces,  she  stipulated  that  the 
young  people  were  to  come  and  live  with  her  at  the  mansion. 
In  each  case  she  guaranteed  an  income,  and  she  had  a  definite 
idea  of  what  the  income  of  young  married  people  should  be. 
She  named  a  thousand  dollars  a  year  at  the  first  marriage, 
and  five  thousand  francs  at  the  second,  which  in  the  last  case 
was  secured  with  all  the  formality  of  French  custom,  but  such 
incomes  were  never  paid.  She  gathered  each  pair  under  her 
roof,  and  supported  them  lavishly,  quite  regardless  of  cost, 
but  she  held  the  purse-strings  and  kept  them  like  children 
dependent  upon  her.  The  husbands  were  encouraged  to  live  in 
idleness.  There  was  no  need  of  work  for  them.  There  was  an 
abundance  of  everything  at  the  mansion.  Nelson  Chase  had 
studied  law,  but  there  was  no  need  for  him  to  practice  it. 
M.  Pery  was  a  gentleman  of  leisure,  who  appeared  on  the  hill, 

like 


Invoking  the  Law 


209 


like  Bismarck,  accompanied  by  great  dogs,  and  who  drank 
heavily  to  kill  time,  and  in  his  cups  complained  that  he  had 
been  deceived  in  the  matter  of  his  promised  income  of  five 
thousand  francs. 

By  this  time  Charles  O'Conor,  who  was  a  neighbor  on  the 
Heights,  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  resident  heirs  in  im- 
portant pending  litigation,  and  was  able  to  act  with  authority 
when  his  clients  quarreled  within  the  house.  On  one  occasion, 
when  Nelson  Chase,  for  whom  Mr.  O'Conor  entertained  no 
respect  whatever,  brought  his  girl  wife  into  the  house  and 
ordered  the  family  out,  it  was  Charles  O'Conor  who  settled 
the  trouble  with  an  arbitrary  hand. 

A  remarkable  picture  of  life  in  the  mansion  at  this  time  is 
furnished  by  Mademoiselle  Nitschke,  who  was  the  governess 
of  the  child,  Matilde  Elizabeth  Georgiana  Pery.  Her  narra- 
tive includes  a  ghost  story,  and  certainly  a  house  that  has 
stood  on  its  foundations  for  a  century  and  a  half,  and  passed 
through  the  strange  and  varied  experiences  of  Jumel  Mansion, 
must  have  a  ghost  concealed  somewhere. 

She  says :  — 

I  came  to  live  at  the  mansion  three  years  after  Madame  Jumel 
died,  or  about  1868.  My  room  was  at  first  on  the  third  story  and 
the  schoolroom  was  on  the  same  floor.  Little  Matilde  was  sup- 
posed to  study  for  half  an  hour  and  then  play  for  half  an  hour, 
but  at  any  moment  Mrs.  Pery  might  snap  her  whip  under  the 
window  and  call  us  to  drive  in  a  rattle-trap  wagon. 

At  this  time  Nelson  Chase  would  rise  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  make  the  halls  ring  with  profanity  calling  for  his 
breakfast.  Nelson  Chase  ate  at  one  time,  the  Perys  at  another, 
and  Will  Chase  and  his  family  still  later.  The  three  families  were 
not  always  on  speaking  terms.  I  was  told  not  to  speak  to  Mrs. 
Will  Chase  or  her  children.  After  a  little  time  I  was  moved  down 
to  the  "Lafayette  Room,"  to  be  nearer  Mrs.  Pery,  who  was  in 
nightly  terror  of  the  ghost  of  Madame  Jumel,  which  she  claimed 
came  with  terrible  rappings  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  or 
about  midnight. 

Mrs.  Pery  would  come  to  my  room  in  the  night  in  great  ex- 
citement to  escape  the  ghost.  I  would  ask  her  if  she  did  not  fear 
to  leave  her  daughter,  but  she  said  Matilde  slept  soundly  and 
never  heard  it.  One  night  she  insisted  on  my  coming  to  their  bed- 
room and  awaiting  the  ghost.  I  always  told  them  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  a  ghost. 

On  that  particular  night  the  trouble  began  as  early  as  seven 

o'clock 


Charles  O'Conor 
adjusts  the 
family  squabhUs 


The  ghost  story 
of  Mademoiselle 
Nitschke,  the 
governess 


The  ghost  of 
Madame  fumel 
came  betxveen 
twelve  and  one 


2IO 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Mr.  Pery  came 

up  the  stairs 
from  the  kitchen 
■where  he  had 
been  toasting 
cheese 


Mr.  Pery  leaped 
as  if  he  had  been 
shot 


A  skeleton  hand 
clattering  on  the 
window  panes 


A  tin  slop-bucket 
painted  green 


o'clock  in  the  evening.  They  had  just  come  up  from  supper  when 
Mrs.  Pery  rushed  into  the  hall  trembling  with  fright  and  calling 
"Mademoiselle!"  She  had  seen  or  heard  some  manifestation 
by  which  she  claimed  to  know  that  the  ghost  was  going  to  make  a 
night  of  it. 

At  about  the  same  time,  probably  hearing  the  cries,  Mr.  Pery 
came  up  the  stairs  from  the  kitchen  where  he  had  been  toasting 
cheese.  He  disliked  to  sleep  in  the  room,  in  question,  claiming 
that  Madame  Jumel  had  come  to  the  side  of  his  bed  in  white.  At 
my  suggestion  they  sent  for  the  gardener,  who  lived  in  one  of  the 
gate-houses,  for  an  additional  witness.  With  his  help  I  expected 
to  prove  to  them  that  their  fears  were  groundless,  and  that  what 
they  thought  they  heard,  they  did  not  hear  at  all. 

It  was  a  still  night  outside,  a  warm  September  night  without  a 
breath  of  wind;  and  it  was  also  very  quiet  inside  as  the  hour  drew 
on  to  midnight.  No  one  had  broken  the  silence  for  some  moments 
by  a  spoken  word.  Mr.  Pery  was  pretending  to  read  from  a  book. 
He  was  seated  in  the  middle  of  the  room  in  a  light  chair,  with 
nothing  about  the  legs  to  conceal  anything.  Suddenly  there  were 
loud  raps  like  the  sound  of  a  mallet  striking  under  the  floor,  and 
directly,  seemingly,  under  Mr.  Pery's  chair,  from  which  he  leaped 
as  if  he  had  been  shot. 

I  had  told  them  when  the  ghost  came  to  ask  it  if  it  wished  to 
have  prayers  said  for  it,  so  I  put  the  question,  "Do  you  want  to 
have  prayers  said  for  you.^"  This  was  answered  by  three  knocks, 
which  is  the  knock-language  for  "yes."  The  raps  that  answered 
to  "yes"  and  "no"  seemed  to  be  in  the  walls,  now  on  one  side  of 
the  room  and  now  on  the  other.  The  manifestations,  as  I  stated, 
began  with  heavy  raps  on  the  floor  under  Mr.  Pery's  chair,  and 
they  were  followed  by  a  clatter  of  what  sounded  like  a  skeleton 
hand  drumming  on  the  panes  of  the  east  front  window.  At  one 
time  during  the  manifestations  this  same  drumming  by  the  skele- 
ton hand  seemed  to  come  from  the  room  where  Matilde  slept, 
but  the  clatter  seemed  to  be  on  some  object  of  tin  instead  of  on 
glass.  I  stepped  to  the  door  and  looked  in.  Even  as  I  looked,  the 
tapping  continued  on  the  tin  slop-pail  and  then  ceased  altogether. 
The  child  was  sleeping  soundly  and  Mrs.  Pery  thought  I  was  very 
brave  to  enter  the  room  at  all. 

As  the  governess  gave  these  particulars  we  were  standing  in 
the  doorway  of  the  "Washington  Bedroom,"  looking  over  the 
gate.  We  then  went  into  the  room  where  little  Matilde  had 
slept.  She  showed  me  where  the  bed  stood  and  the  washstand, 
and  exactly  where  had  stood  a  tin  slop-bucket,  painted  green 
and  with  a  lid. 

The  governess  further  stated  that  during  the  nine  months 

she 


Invoking  the  Law 


21  I 


she  lived  in  the  house,  which  was  three  years  after  Madame 
Jumel's  death,  the  raised  dais,  on  which  she  had  been  wont  to 
sit  in  the  great  parlor  when  she  received  her  guests,  was  still 
standing  in  the  room,  no  longer  in  the  center,  but  pushed  back 
into  the  northwest  corner.  She  said  that  the  great  painting 
by  Alcide  Ercole,  then  standing  in  its  old-time  place  in  the 
hall,  still  had  a  black  patch  over  the  head  of  Will  Chase,  who 
had  broken  the  canvas  when  he  threw  the  ink-bottle  at  it. 

But  to  return  to  the  law,  which  has  no  sympathy  with  things 
supernatural:  the  suits  that  followed  Madame  Jumel's  death, 
before  the  estate  was  finally  settled,  covered  a  period  of  six- 
teen years  of  litigation,  ending  in  1881,  in  the  sale  of  the  real 
property  by  the  court  and  the  settling  of  all  claims.  The  man- 
sion remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Chase  family,  in  three 
undivided  shares  belonging  to  Nelson  Chase  and  to  his  son 
and  daughter.  The  French  heirs,  the  brothers  and  sisters  of 
Stephen  Jumel,  and  their  descendants,  were  allowed  one  un- 
divided sixth  part  of  all  the  estate  that  had  been  Stephen 
Jumel's.  In  the  suit  that  resulted  in  this  award,  the  court  set 
aside  as  fraudulent  and  void  all  the  deeds  of  transfer  made, 
with  the  express  purpose  of  defeating  this  French  claim,  by 
Madame  Jumel  to  her  niece,  Mary  Bownes. 

There  were  some  twenty  cases  at  law  in  the  course  of  this 
prolonged  litigation,  all  of  which  except  one  —  that  involv- 
ing the  French  claims  —  were  won  by  the  resident  heirs.  There 
were  four  suits  for  ejectment,  brought  jointly  by  thirty-eight 
plaintiffs,  who  were  descendants  of  the  vagrant  girl,  Phebe 
Kelley,  who  was  warned  out  of  Providence  in  the  year  1769. 

At  the  beginning  of  these  suits  the  family  of  Nelson  Chase, 
then  in  possession,  lacked  the  ready  funds  to  retain  lawyers 
to  defend  their  interests,  and  Mr.  Charles  O'Conor  and  Mr. 
James  C.  Carter  undertook  the  defense,  without  retainers, 
knowing  that  in  the  final  settlement  the  court  would  set  aside 
an  amount  covering  their  fees.  Here  was  a  peculiar  situation, 
in  which  two  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  at  the  New 
York  Bar,  of  which  Mr.  O'Conor  was  perhaps  the  leader,  were 
defending  a  lawyer  of  no  standing  and  of  whom  each  had  a 
very  poor  opinion.  An  amusing  account  of  the  trials  of  Mr. 
Carter  is  furnished  by  a  cousin  of  that  lawyer.  Frequent  con- 
ferences 


The  raised  dais 
remained  in  the 
drawing-room 


The  litigation 
covered  a  period 
of  sixteen  years 


There  were 
twenty  cases  at 
law 


A  peculiar  situa- 

sion  between  two 
eminent  lawyers 


212 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Some  liberal  feet 
allotted  by  the 
Court 


All  the  litigation 
caused  by  the 
absence  of  three 
wedding  rings 


ferences  with  their  client,  Nelson  Chase,  were  necessary,  in 
and  out  of  court.  Each  eminent  lawyer  wished  to  shirk  this 
particular  work,  but  Mr.  O'Conor,  who  was  a  very  forceful 
man  of  great  dignity,  stood  aside,  leaving  Mr.  Carter  to  hold 
all  the  conferences  with  their  lawyer  client.  Mr.  Carter  was 
the  attorney,  upon  whom  fell  most  of  the  labor  of  fourteen 
years  of  litigation,  and  the  fee  allowed  him  for  such  service 
was  $100,000.  Mr.  O'Conor's  fee  was  $75,000,  while  smaller 
fees  were  granted  to  other  lawyers.  In  satisfaction  of  mort- 
gages given  as  security  for  loans,  of  arrears  of  taxes,  and  of 
city  assessments  for  improvements,  the  court  allotted  various 
sums  amounting  to  $235,000. 

After  the  first  suit  at  law  to  break  the  will  of  Madame  Jumel, 
and  excepting  the  suit  brought  by  the  French  heirs,  nearly 
every  suit  that  followed  was  the  result  of  one  or  another  of  the 
illegitimate  births  that  happened  in  old  Providence  and  else- 
where, which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  a  family  by  methods 
that  were  not  only  immoral,  but  extremely  expensive. 

And  this  litigation  might  have  been  prevented  by  the  trifling 
expense  of  three  wedding  rings  on  the  fingers  of  Phebe  Bowen, 
Betsy  Bowen,  and  Polly  Clarke. 


CHAPTER    XX 

GEORGE   WASHINGTON    BOWEN 

THE  infant  son  of  Betsy  Bowen,  born  in  Providence 
at  the  house  of  Reuben  Ballou,  the  gambrel-roofed 
house  on  Old  Charles  Street,  next  to  the  dye-house, 
grew  up  in  such  undesirable  surroundings,  fathered 
by  Reuben  Ballou,  the  butcher,  and  mothered  by  Freelove, 
his  wife.  His  board  was  probably  paid  in  those  early  years 
by  some  agent  of  his  unknown  father,  for  the  Ballous  were  not 
charitable  people  to  bring  up  at  their  own  cost  such  infants 
as  chanced  to  be  born  under  their  roof. 

George  Washington  Bowen  said  that  the  first  he  knew  of 
anything,  he  was  living  in  Charles  Street,  Providence,  in  the 
house  of  Major  Reuben  Ballou,  and  his  wife,  Freelove  Ballou. 
When  he  was  six  or  eight  years  old,  Major  Ballou  died,  and  a 
year  later  he  was  sent  out  into  the  world  to  shift  for  himself. 
A  place  was  found  for  him  in  North  Providence,  where  he  was 
taken  into  the  family  of  Smith  Wilbur,  to  learn  to  be  a  farmer. 
He  stayed  but  a  short  time  in  North  Providence,  returning  to 
Charles  Street  and  the  old  home,  only  to  be  bundled  off  to 
another  farm  in  Smithfield,  and  finally  to  farmer  Jenks  in 
Cumberland.  His  sponsors  seemed  quite  determined  to  make 
a  farmer  of  him,  while  he  seems  to  have  been  equally  deter- 
mined to  be  something  else.  The  country  had  no  attraction 
for  George  and  he  returned  again  to  Providence,  and  was  then 
apprenticed  to  Mr.  Weeden,  the  baker,  the  same  Mr.  Weeden 
for  whom  little  David  Hull  was  delivering  water  crackers  in 
Charles  Street  when  he  was  born.  He  learned  to  be  a  baker 
and  a  weaver,  as  well  as  a  farmer,  before  he  attained  his 
majority  in  1815,  when  he  entered  the  store  of  Asa  Newell 
in  Providence  as  a  clerk.  Opposite  to  Asa  Newell's  store  was 
the  grocery  store  of  Major  Thayer,  whom  Bowen  soon  bought 

out 


2-13 


Birth  oftht  in- 
fant son  of  Betsy 
Bowen 


He  becomes 
farmer^  baker, 
and  weaver  be- 
fore he  is  of  age 


214 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


He  was  in  the 
rubber  business, 
the  lottery  busi- 
ness, and  the 
grocery  business 


He  was  long  a 
prominent  figure 
on  the  streets  of 
Providence 


For  thirty  years 
he  spent  some 
part  of  his  sum- 
mer at  Saratoga 


out  and  then  embarked  in  business  for  himself.  In  middle  life 
he  was  for  a  time  in  the  rubber  business  and  for  years  he  was 
prominent  in  Providence  as  an  agent  for  lotteries,  in  which  line 
he  continued  until  the  State  laws  of  Rhode  Island  put  a  ban  on 
lotteries.  He  then  returned  to  the  grocery  business,  continuing 
in  it  until  he  retired  with  a  modest  competence,  leaving  the 
business  to  his  son.  He  was  married  twice  and  left  two  children. 

From  the  day  when  he  was  sent  to  the  farmer  in  North 
Providence,  he  had  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world,  and  he 
was  moderately  successful  as  a  business  man  in  a  small  town. 
He  may  have  been  worth  thirty  thousand  dollars,  which  was 
quite  a  fortune  fifty  years  ago.  He  lived  in  a  comfortable  house, 
which  he  built  for  himself  on  Hewes  Street,  near  Benefit,  and 
overlooking  the  place  of  his  birth  and  early  life,  in  Old  Charles 
Street. 

Many  middle-aged  people  in  Providence  to-day  remember 
the  tall,  distinguished-looking  old  man,  known  to  every  one 
as  George  Washington  Bowen.  He  was  long  a  prominent  fig- 
ure on  the  streets  of  Providence.  His  portrait,  at  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter,  enlarged  from  a  daguerreotype,  shows  a  head 
of  unusual  character  and  distinction.  The  forehead  is  high 
and  broad,  the  jaw  determined,  the  nose  clean-cut,  and  the 
deep-set  eyes,  together  with  the  drooping  at  the  corners  of 
the  mouth,  suggest  a  sadness  induced  by  a  long  consciousness 
of  illegitimacy. 

His  resemblance  to  Washington  was  said  to  be  striking. 
The  fact  that  he  bore  his  name,  coupled  with  the  mystery  of 
his  birth,  may  gradually  have  fixed  in  his  mind  the  belief  that 
he  was  the  son  of  Washington.  He  believed  that  he  was  and 
his  descendants  hold  the  same  belief.  Perhaps  he  involuntarily 
dressed  the  part.  It  was  a  common  thing,  as  he  passed  in  the 
streets  of  Providence,  for  a  citizen  who  knew  him  to  point 
him  out  to  a  stranger  with  "Who  does  that  man  remind  you 
of.?"  The  answer  would  almost  invariably  be,  "Why,  he  looks 
like  Washington." 

For  thirty  years  he  spent  some  part  of  his  summer  at  Sara- 
toga, where  Madame  Jumel  was  a  familiar  figure.  Although 
she  never  acknowledged  him  publicly,  or  spoke  to  him  after 
he  could  talk,  she  sometimes  mentioned  him  in  her  cups  and 

in 


George  Washington  Bowen 


George  Washington  Bowen 


in  her  dotage.  Stephen  Jumel  and  his  wife  had  quarreled  over 
his  existence  before  he  was  of  age,  and  the  resident  heirs  were 
well  aware  of  his  presence  in  Providence,  so  well  aware  that 
a  lawyer  was  dispatched  to  Providence  seven  months  after 
Madame  Jumel's  death  to  interview  him  and  secure  from  him 
some  disavowal  of  his  relationship  to  Madame  Jumel,  for  use 
in  court  in  case  it  should  be  needed.  In  her  last  insane  years 
she  would  sometimes  threaten  to  hunt  him  up,  and  a  watch 
was  kept  on  her  movements  lest  she  should  really  do  as  she 
threatened  to  do.  It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  she  got  into 
her  carriage  to  go  to  Providence,  and  that  the  barn  was  mys- 
teriously set  on  fire  to  distract  her  attention.  It  was  some  time 
during  this  demented  period  that  she  managed  to  send  an  invi- 
tation to  her  son  to  come  and  see  her.  This  was  before  he  had 
any  thought  of  being  a  possible  heir  to  her  fortune  and  he  sent 
an  indignant  and  uncomplimentary  refusal. 

He  stated  that  Freelove  Ballou,  about  a  year  before  her 
death,  had  informed  him  who  his  mother  was,  but  that  she 
had  not  told  him  who  his  father  was.  She  died  in  1823  when 
he  was  twenty-nine  years  old.  He  does  not  say  that  her  in- 
formation was  his  first  knowledge  of  the  fact.  He  could 
hardly  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  he  was  the  son  of  Betsy 
Bowen,  which  was  the  common  knowledge  of  his  associates  in 
Providence  a  few  years  older  than  himself,  and  that  she  went 
to  New  York  and  married  the  "Frenchman"  was  known  to 
her  old  associates  in  Charles  Street. 

In  1867,  two  years  after  Madame  Jumel's  death,  he  was  in- 
formed by  Judge  Edmonds  that,  by  a  law  then  in  force  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  an  illegitimate  son  could  inherit  from  his 
mother  when  there  were  no  legitimate  children,  and  steps 
were  immediately  taken  to  bring  an  action  to  dispossess  the 
resident  heirs,  which  resulted  in  the  famous  case  of  George 
Washington  Bowen  vs.  Nelson  Chase,  which  was  tried  in  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  1873.  The  plaintiff^  was  represented  by 
his  attorney,  Mr.  Chauncey  Shafi^er,  and  the  defendant  by  his 
attorney,  Mr.  James  C.  Carter.  The  presiding  judge  was  the 
Honorable  William  D.  Shipman,  District  Judge  of  the  United 
States  for  the  District  of  Connecticut. 

There 


2'15 


A  disavowal  of 
his  relationship  to 
Madame  Jumel 
■was  sought  by 
the  lawyers 


Freelove  Ballou 
told  him  who  his 
mother  was 


He  learns  that 
an  illegitimate 
son  may  inherit 


2l6 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  striking  fig- 
ures of  Charles 
O' Conor  and 
George  Wash- 
ington Bowen 


Mr.  Chauncey 
Shaffer's  intro- 
ductory remarks 
on  Madame 
"Jumel 


The  preliminary 
work  of  gather- 
ing witnesses  and 
securing  evidence 


There  are  a  few  men  living  on  Washington  Heights  who 
went  down  to  the  trial,  and  who  remember  the  tall  figure  of 
the  plaintiff,  who  looked  strangely  like  Washington,  and  the 
equally  striking  figure  of  Charles  O'Conor,  who  was  associated 
with  James  C.  Carter  for  the  defense,  and  who  seemed  to  domi- 
nate the  trial  with  his  grim  personality  and  his  exalted  posi- 
tion at  the  New  York  Bar. 

The  issue  had  been  joined  in  this  case  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  April,  1 868,  but  the  famous  case  was  tried  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  in  1872.  Mr.  Chauncey  Shaffer,  in  stating 
his  case  to  the  court,  spoke  of  Madame  Jumel,  the  putative 
mother  of  the  plaintiff,  in  the  following  remarkable  words :  — 

Her  history  was  romantic,  eventful,  and  ahead  in  many  re- 
spects of  the  most  exciting  novel.  Her  rise  in  life,  her  progress 
through  life  reminds  one  more  of  the  elevation  of  a  prisoner  to 
the  chair  of  state  under  eastern  despotism  than  any  thing  in  the 
natural  growth  of  our  republican  country.  She  was  born  and 
reared  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances,  and  it  is  a 
miracle  of  miracles  that  she  ever  became  such  a  remarkable 
woman  as  she  did;  for  early  in  life  she  was  wrecked,  but  she  was 
one  of  the  wrecked  ones  who  have  not  floated  down  the  stream 
and  become  loathsome  weeds  on  the  strand. 

The  main  issue  in  the  trial  was  to  determine  who  was  the 
mother  of  the  plaintiff,  and  not  who  his  father  was,  but  Mr. 
Shaffer,  anticipating  the  shafts  of  ridicule  that  Mr,  O'Conor 
might  direct  at  his  client,  as  claiming  to  be  the  son  of  George 
Washington,  very  cleverly  took  the  ground,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  trial,  that  he  was  the  son  of  Reuben  Ballou.  He  had 
the  plaintiff  admit  on  the  stand  that  Reuben  Ballou  some- 
times called  him  "My  son,"  and  "My  son  George." 

An  amusing  part  of  the  trial  was  the  preliminary  work  of 
gathering  witnesses  and  securing  evidence,  which  began  soon 
after  Madame  Jumel's  death,  and  on  the  part  of  the  defendant, 
before  the  plaintiff  thought  of  prosecuting.  Before  Madame 
Jumel  had  been  dead  a  year,  lawyers  were  sent  by  the  defend- 
ant to  Rutland,  Massachusetts,  and  to  Williamton,  North 
Carolina,  to  trace  the  movements  of  Phebe  Bowen  and  Jona- 
than Clarke.  After  the  issue  was  joined,  both  parties  were 
equally  keen  in  securing  evidence.  It  happened  that  an  old 
colored  woman,  Elizabeth  Freeman  by  name,  who  had  some- 
time 


George  Washington  Bowen 


217 


time  been  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Chauncey  Shaffer,  the  attor- 
ney for  George  Washington  Bowen,  had  also  been  a  servant 
of  Madame  Jumei,  and  in  the  winter  of  1869  was  in  charge  of 
the  house  on  Circular  Street  in  Saratoga,  as  she  had  been  since 
Madame  Jumel's  death.  It  was  a  cold  winter  and  the  snow 
was  deep  on  the  Saratoga  streets,  when  a  series  of  events  took 
place  that  resulted  in  placing  in  the  hands  of  the  prosecution 
several  of  the  lithographic  portraits  of  Madame  Jumel  that 
were  used  in  the  trial. 

Mr.  Nelson  Chase,  the  defendant,  having  heard  that  Aunt 
Elizabeth  had  been  approached  by  the  attorney  for  the  plain- 
tiff, made  a  journey  to  Saratoga  and  established  himself  at 
the  American  Hotel.  His  object  was  to  get  on  the  right  side, 
or  the  blind  side,  of  Aunt  Elizabeth  and  secure  her  as  a  wit- 
ness for  the  defense.  The  picturesque  story  of  her  experience 
as  told  by  the  old  colored  woman,  who  was  then  sixty-three 
years  old,  and  her  statement  of  events  was  too  characteristic 
of  the  actors  to  leave  any  room  for  doubt  of  its  truth. 

Mr.  Chase,  she  said,  sent  for  her  to  come  to  the  hotel,  which 
she  did,  accompanied  by  her  son.  Mr.  Chase  came  down  the 
steps  of  the  hotel  to  greet  her,  and  "took  me  by  my  old  black 
hand"  with  the  most  effusive  politeness,  led  her  up  to  his 
room  and  into  the  presence  of  his  young  wife.  As  soon  as  Aunt 
Elizabeth  and  her  son  were  seated,  Mr.  Chase  rang  the  bell 
and  ordered  a  bottle  of  champagne  and  glasses,  which  was  his 
idea  of  overwhelming  a  plain  old  colored  woman  with  flash 
hospitality.  Aunt  Elizabeth,  however,  declined  to  drink,  and 
without  any  further  preparation  he  asked  her  when  she  had 
last  seen  "that  George  Washington  Bowen."  In  the  course 
of  the  conversation  that  followed,  she  told  him  that  Madame 
Jumel  had  told  her  that  she  had  a  son. 

At  that  Mr.  Chase  flew  in  a  rage  and  called  her  a  liar, 
with  several  profane  adjectives,  and  emphasized  his  words  by 
striking  the  table  with  his  fist  until  the  champagne  glasses 
danced  and  fell  over.  He  ordered  her  out  of  his  presence  and 
out  of  the  hotel,  and  when  they  appeared  on  the  street  he  put 
his  head  out  of  the  window  and  called  after  them  that  she  had 
better  look  out  what  she  said  or  he  would  have  her  and  all 
that  Shaffer  crowd  put  in  state's  prison. 

In 


//  was  a  cold 
winter  and  the 
snow  was  deep  on 
the  Saratoga 
streets 


An  attempt  to  get 
on  the  blind  side 
of  Aunt  Eliza- 
beth with  a  bottle 
champagne 


He  struck  the 
table  with  his  fist 
until  the  cham- 
pagne glasses 
danced 


2l8 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Aunt  Elizabeth 
secured  the  litho- 
graph portrait  of 
Madame  "Jumel 
used  in  the  trial 


The  record  of  his 
birth  was  read 
from  the  '■'■King 
Henry  Book" 

The  great  age 

of  the  witnesses 
for  the  plaintiff 


In  consequence  of  Aunt  Elizabeth's  plain  speaking,  she 
was  evicted  next  day  from  the  house  in  Circular  Street  and 
found  herself  in  the  snow  with  all  her  belongings  about  her. 
There  were  quite  a  number  of  the  lithographs  of  Madame 
Jumel,  which  are  very  rare  now,  stored  in  the  house,  and  in 
the  process  of  eviction,  these  were  thrown  out  upon  the  floor, 
and  Aunt  Elizabeth  threw  them  into  a  trunk  and  the  trunk 
was  thrown  out  into  the  snow  after  her.  From  her  abun- 
dance she  gave  to  Mr.  Shaffer  three  of  these  portraits,  which 
afterwards  figured  in  the  great  trial.  Aunt  Elizabeth  testified 
under  oath  that  she  did  not  sell  the  pictures  to  Mr.  Shaffer, 
but  that  it  was  "close  to  Christmas  time,  you  know,  and  Mr. 
Shaffer  done  send  me  a  turkey  and  a  pair  of  ducks  and  he 
shore  come  to  see  me  and  eat  some  of  the  turkey." 

The  first  witness  called  was  Catherine  Williams,  the  author- 
ess, who  had  been  dead  several  years,  and  her  testimony,  taken 
before  a  commission,  was  read  to  the  jury.  The  plaintiff  was 
then  called,  and  his  identity  estabhshed  with  the  record  of  his 
two  marriages.  Furthermore,  the  record  of  his  birth,  as  en- 
tered in  the  "King  Henry  Book"  by  Reuben  Ballou,  was  read 
to  the  jury,  followed  by  the  records  of  the  Providence  courts 
made  nearly  a  hundred  years  before. 

George  Washington  Bowen,  the  plaintiff,  was  seventy-eight 
years  old  at  the  time  of  the  trial,  and  the  witnesses  for  the  prose- 
cution, the  schoolmates  and  playmates  of  the  plaintiff  in  the 
old  days  in  Charles  Street,  were  necessarily  old  people.  Of 
twelve  witnesses  who  knew  him  as  a  boy,  eight  were  between 
eighty  and  ninety  years  of  age.  Catherine  Williams  was  dead 
at  eighty-two ;  Stephen  Randall,  a  schoolmate  of  the  defendant, 
was  seventy-seven;  and  Philip  W.  Martin,  another  school- 
mate, was  seventy-eight;  and  George  Burr,  a  third  schoolmate, 
was  seventy-nine.  It  was  a  remarkable  showing  of  longevity 
in  the  lads  who  had  got  a  little  schooling  along  with  George 
Bowen,  in  the  old  days  in  Charles  Street.  Mowry  Randall  was 
nine  years  older  than  the  plaintiff,  and  used  to  peddle  peaches 
to  Mother  Ballou,  and  remembered  little  George  when  he  was 
running  about  the  door  in  a  nightgown.  Mowry  Randall 
was  eighty-seven.  Joseph  Sweet  was  twelve  years  old  when 
the  plaintiff  was  bom,  and  his  age  was  ninety.  Mary  Wil- 
liams, 


George  Washington  Bowens  House  on  Hewes  Street,  Providence 


George  Washington  Bow  en 


liams,  another  schoolmate,  was  eighty-six.  Mary  Ormsbee 
was  eighty-four.  James  Angell  was  eighty-seven ;  and  Lemuel 
Angel  was  eighty-nine.  David  Hull,  who  delivered  water 
crackers  in  Charles  Street  when  the  plaintiff  was  born  was 
eighty-five,  and  Freeman  Beckwith  was  eighty-eight. 

As  soon  as  issue  was  joined  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
in  1869,  these  witnesses  were  looked  up,  and  in  view  of  their 
advanced  age,  and  anticipating  the  deliberate  procedure  of 
the  law  in  such  cases,  the  evidence  of  these  old  people  was 
taken  before  commissions  legally  constituted  for  that  purpose. 
Several  of  these  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  (and  it  is  a  signi- 
ficant fact  that  the  defense  could  find  no  witness  for  rebuttal 
among  the  old  people  of  Providence)  were  too  old  and  feeble 
to  have  made  the  journey  to  New  York  to  be  present  in  court, 
even  if  they  should  be  living  (and  some  of  them  were  dead) 
when  the  trial  came  off. 

David  Hull,  who  had  known  the  Bowen  girls  at  the  hut  on 
the  Old  Warren  Road,  and  who  had  seen  the  plaintiff  in  his 
mother's  arms  when  he  was  five  days  old,  was  the  star  witness 
for  the  prosecution,  and  the  witness  whose  evidence  must  be 
broken  down  by  the  defense  at  all  hazards.  Two  or  more 
commissions  examined  the  old  man  in  Providence,  and  cross- 
examined  him  until  he  was  nearly  worn  out  by  the  ordeal. 
At  the  last  examination  preceding  the  trial,  it  was  a  formidable 
array  of  lawyers  that  journeyed  to  Providence  to  take  the  tes- 
timony of  David  Hull.  His  evidence  was  simple  and  direct. 
He  was  sometimes  a  petulant,  protesting,  and  exhausted  wit- 
ness, under  the  grilling  cross-examination,  during  which  Mr. 
Charles  O'Conor  worried  and  hectored  the  old  man  for  three 
long  days,  with  all  the  skill  and  all  the  magical  dominance  of 
that  great  advocate,  without  weakening  his  testimony. 

Eleven  witnesses,  most  of  them  having  been  servants  of 
Madame  Jumel,  were  produced  in  court  to  testify  that  Madame 
Jumel  had  told  them  about  her  son  in  Providence,  but  such 
evidence,  in  every  case,  was  ruled  out  as  hearsay  evidence. 
Among  those  who  came  to  give  such  evidence  was  Mrs.  Mary 
M.  Mumford,  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  who  had  been  the 
child,  Mary  Marilla  Stever,  whom  Madame  Jumel  had  met 
at  Judge  Crippin's  and  had  brought  home  to  take  the  place  of 

Mary 


219 


Evidence  in 
several  cases 
taken  before  com- 
missions^ to  be 
used  In  cast  of 
the  death  of  the 
witness 


Efforts  to  break 
down  the  evidence 
of  David  Hull, 
the  star  witness 
for  the  plaintiff 


Mary  Marilla 
Stever  came  from 
Grand  Rapids, 
Michigan 


220 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


She  said  that  she 
left  the  house  be- 
tween the  time 
when  he  was 
hurt  and  the  time 
when  he  died 


The  marriage 

certificate  of  the 
fumels  was  in 
Latin 


To  the  evidence 
of  the  playmates 
and  schoolmates 
of  George  IVash- 
ington  Bowen, 
tibe  defense  made 
no  reply 


Mary  Bownes,  who  was  about  to  marry  Nelson  Chase.  The 
witness  stated  that  she  was  sent  away  before  the  death  of 
Stephen  Jumel.  When  she  was  asked  if  she  went  away  before 
he  was  hurt,  she  replied  that  she  left,  the  house  between  the 
time  when  he  was  hurt  and  the  time  when  he  died. 

Although  these  witnesses  were  not  allowed  to  testify  to 
what  they  had  heard,  they  were  at  liberty  to  testify  of  their 
own  knowledge,  and  in  each  case  the  question  was  put  by  the 
attorney  for  the  prosecution:  "Did  any  ladies  visit  Madame 
Jumel,  to  your  knowledge,  while  you  were  in  her  employ?" 

The  answer  was  always,  "No." 

After  the  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  had  all  been  heard 
and  the  claim  that  George  Washington  Bowen  was  the  natural 
son  of  Madame  Jumel  had  been  established  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  prosecution,  the  plaintiff  by  his  attorney  read  in  evi- 
dence the  marriage  certificate  of  the  Jumels,  who  were  mar- 
ried on  the  9th  day  of  April,  1804.  It  was  in  Latin  and  the 
names  were  written,  "Stephanus  Jumell  and  Elizabethum 
Browne." 

Then  the  record  in  the  "King  Henry  Book,"  written  by 
Reuben  Ballou,  was  solemnly  read  to  the  jury:  — 

George  Washington  Bowen,  born  of  Eliza  Bowen,  at  my  house 
in  town,  Providence,  R.I.,  this  9th  October  1794. 

It  was  admitted  that  Eliza  B.  Jumel  died  on  the  i6th  day 
of  July,  1865. 

And  the  plaintiff  rested  his  case. 

To  the  evidence  of  the  playmates  and  schoolmates  of  George 
Washington  Bowen,  establishing  his  relationship  to  Madame 
Jumel,  the  defense  made  no  reply,  except  the  testimony  of 
the  lawyer,  who  was  sent  directly  after  Madame  Jumel's 
death,  to  find  Bowen  and  get  a  denial  from  him  of  his  relation 
to  Madame  Jumel. 

The  effort  of  the  defense  was  mainly  directed  to  show  that 
Mary  Bownes  was  regarded  as  the  adopted  daughter  of  the 
Jumels  and  that  the  intention  and  wish  of  Stephen  Jumel  and 
of  Eliza  Jumel,  his  wife,  were  that  the  property  should  go  to 
their  said  adopted  daughter,  Mary  Bownes,  and  to  her  issue, 
who  had  been  in  possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  estate 

since 


James  Wallace  "Tygard 


^El  ^^  ^l^^B^  ^^tt  \ 

'» 

George  Washington  Bowen 


221 


since  the  death  of  the  owners,  even  down  to  the  children  who 
represented  the  third  generation  of  the  heirs  in  possession,  and 
this  was  made  as  clear  as  the  prosecution  had  made  clear  the 
identity  of  George  Washington  Bow  en. 

It  was  a  case  where  justice  lay  on  one  side  and  a  hard  and 
strict  interpretation  of  the  law  lay  on  the  other  side.  The 
court  and  the  jury,  and  Charles  O'Conor,  who  shook  his  finger 
in  the  face  of  the  plaintiff  and  called  him  "You  bastard," 
must  have  known  that  George  Washington  Bowen  was  the 
natural  son  of  Madame  Jumel.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  no 
jury  could  have  the  hardihood  to  oust  the  claimants  in  posses- 
sion, who  had  been  born,  lived,  and  died  on  the  estate,  and 
whose  possession  was  the  will  and  desire  of  the  deceased  owners. 

And  it  came  about  that,  when  the  evidence  was  all  in,  and 
the  attorneys  had  exhausted  their  eloquence  before  the  jury. 
Judge  Shipman  charged  and  directed  the  jury  that  if  the  plain- 
tiff was  the  son  of  Eliza  B.  Jumel  they  should  find  a  verdict 
for  the  plaintiff,  but  if  he  was  not  her  son,  then  they  should 
find  a  verdict  for  the  defendant,  and  that  in  addition  to  any 
verdict  which  the  said  jury  might  find  on  that  point,  he  di- 
rected the  jury  to  find,  specially,  that  Eliza  B.  Jumel,  at  the 
time  of  her  death,  had  no  other  estate  or  interest  in  the  lands 
claimed  which  was  descendible  to  her  heirs. 

After  a  few  hours'  deliberation  the  jury  found  a  verdict  for 
the  defendant. 

The  great  trial  in  New  York  was  in  October,  1872,  but  the 
judgment  of  the  court  was  not  rendered  until  October,  1873. 
By  a  writ  of  error  the  case  was  carried  by  the  plaintiff  up  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  six  years  later, 
in  1879,  that  court  confirmed  the  findings  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
and  the  plaintiff,  George  Washington  Bowen,  had  lost  his  case.^ 
The  duration  of  this  case  as  it  dragged  through  the  courts, 
reckoning  from  the  time  when  the  defense  began  to  gather 

witnesses 

■  The  action  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  Washington  consisted  in  reviewing  the 
proceedings  of  the  Circuit  Court,  as  set  forth  in  a  bound  volume  entitled.  Tran- 
script of  Record,  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  No.  312,  George  W.  Bowen, 
plaintiff  in  error,  vs.  Nelson  Chase,  of  which  but  sixteen  copies  were  printed.  The 
copy  which  was  the  property  of  George  Washington  Bowen  is  now  in  possession 
of  the  present  claimant,  John  W.  Tygard,  at  Toronto,  Canada;  the  Congressional 
Library  at  Washington  has  the  official  copy;  and  a  third  copy  is  in  the  John  Hay 
Library,  of  Brown  University,  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 


//  was  a  case 
where  justice  lay 
on  one  side  and  a 
strict  interpreta- 
tion of  the  law 
on  the  other 


The  jury  found  a 
verdict  for  the 
defendant 


222 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


George  Wash- 
ington Eowen^ 
the  first  claimant^ 
died  in  Provi- 
dence at  the  age 
of  ninety 


Other  claimants 
continue  to  follow 
him 


witnesses  until  the  decision  of  the  highest  court  was  made, 
covered  a  period  of  thirteen  years. 

This  was  a  case  which,  in  justice  to  both  parties,  and  to 
the  advantage  of  both  parties,  might  have  been  settled  out  of 
court.  George  Washington  Bowen,  the  plaintiff,  who  was 
beaten  at  the  trial  and  obliged  to  pay  the  costs,  still  persisted 
in  claiming  ownership  of  the  Jumel  estate.  He  died  in  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island,  on  the  6th  of  February,  1885,  at  the  age 
of  ninety,  attaining  precisely  to  the  remarkable  longevity  of 
his  mother,  Madame  Jumel. 

After  the  death  of  George  Washington  Bowen,  the  claim 
to  the  Jumel  estate  passed  to  a  cousin,  John  Reuben  Vander- 
voort,  who  for  eighteen  years  sold  quitclaim  deeds  to  pur- 
chasers of  lots  on  Washington  Heights  who  wished  to  be 
doubly  secure  in  their  title.  In  1903,  shortly  before  his  death, 
Vandervoort  sold  his  claim  to  James  Wallace  Tygard,  of  Plain- 
field,  New  Jersey,  who  is  the  present  claimant. 


223 


Afterword 


A  HOUSE  has  a  character  given  to  it  by  the  people  who  live  in 
it,  who  are  the  soul  of  the  house ;  a  character  for  honesty,  for 
truthfulness,  for  culture,  for  distinction.  It  is  courted  or 
shunned  by  its  neighbors  as  they  approve  or  disapprove  of 
the  people  who  live  in  the  house. 

The  Roger  Morris  house  was  an  aristocrat  among  houses. 
Its  builders  were  people  of  the  highest  character,  and  the  house 
stood  erect  on  its  firm  foundations,  respected  and  approved 
as  a  man  of  probity  and  honor  is  regarded  by  his  fellows.  It 
partook  of  the  high  character  of  its  inmates.  It  was  an  honor 
to  be  a  guest  under  its  roof.  The  neighbors  delighted  to  come 
to  it.  Its  hospitahty  was  sought  after,  and  its  social  favors 
were  eagerly  returned.  It  stood  on  a  hill  in  the  sun,  without  a 
blemish  on  its  character,  or  a  tarnish  on  its  shield,  or  a  bar 
sinister  on  its  escutcheon. 

The  occupation  by  Washington  conferred  a  new  honor  on 
the  house,  and  gave  it  a  patriotic  character  that  was  bound  to 
outlive  any  lapse  from  respectability  that  might  befall  it  in 
the  uncertain  future. 

The  "Old  Gaol  House"  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  a  character  so  vile  that  a  posse  of  indignant 
citizens  tore  it  down  one  summer's  night  and  arrested  the  in- 
mates in  the  name  of  the  law.  This  happened  in  1782,  near  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  a  village  of  less  than  three 
thousand  inhabitants.  What  had  this  to  do  with  the  Roger 
Morris  house  ? 

Fate  works  in  a  mysterious  way.  Among  the  inmates  of 
that  demolished  house  was  a  child  of  seven  years,  who  was 
destined  to  reverse  the  high  character  of  the  Roger  Morris 
house,  to  make  it  in  her  lifetime  a  house  to  be  avoided  by  its 
respectable  neighbors,  and  finally,  to  die  an  insane  nonage- 
narian 


The  Roger  Mor- 
ris house  was  an 
aristocrat  among 
houses 


Its  occupation  by 
General  IFasb- 
ington  conferred 
a  new  honor  on 
the  house 

Hnv  the  "  Old 
Gaol  House  " 
at  Providence 
touches  the  Mor- 
ris house 


224 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


The  house  has 
three  names: 

1.  Roger  Morris 
House 

2.  Jumel  Man- 
sion 

J.  IVashington' s 
Headquarters 


The  City  of  New 
York  has  no  in- 
terest in  the  house 
except  under  its 
third  name 


Only  a  corner  of 
the  original  door- 
yard 


narian  within  its  walls,  leaving  in  her  wake  such  a  trail  of  vul- 
gar family  quarrels  and  impoverishing  lawsuits  as  has  rarely 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  another  house. 

If  it  had  been  desirable  to  bring  this  history  down  so  far, 
its  title  might  have  been  extended  to  read,  "  From  Roger  Mor- 
ris House  to  Jumel  Mansion  to  Washington's  Headquarters." 
It  is  a  house  possessing  and  entitled  to  possess  three  names. 
If  we  speak  of  it  in  its  Revolutionary  period,  it  is  the  "  Roger 
Morris  House,"  or  the  "Roger  Morris  House  of  the  Revolu- 
tion." The  popular  name  of  the  house  is  the  "Jumel  Mansion" 
—  the  name  the  people  choose  to  call  it.  Whether  the  house 
was  famous  or  infamous  under  that  name,  it  is  the  people's 
name.  The  house  has  a  third  and  business  name,  the  "Wash- 
ington Headquarters."  The  Daughters  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution are  engaged  in  the  business  of  preserving  the  old 
headquarters.  If  one  speaks  of  the  house  as  "Washington's 
Headquarters,"  or  as  "Jumel  Mansion,"  or  as  the  "Roger 
Morris  House,"  the  name  chosen  identifies  the  period  one 
wishes  to  refer  to.  The  City  of  New  York  has  no  interest  in 
the  house,  officially,  except  as  Washington's  headquarters,  yet 
its  generous,  annual  appropriation  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
headquarters  is  made  for  the  "Jumel  Mansion." 

The  house  and  the  original  dooryard  (less  the  plot  known 
as  "Sylvan  Terrace"),  bounded  by  St.  Nicholas  Avenue,  isgth 
Street,  the  line  of  the  city  water  pipe,  and  i62d  Street,  was 
sold  in  1887  by  the  Jumel  heirs  to  Mr.  Seth  Milliken  for  $100,- 
000.  The  wooden  houses  on  either  side  of  Sylvan  Terrace, 
formerly  the  carriage  drive  from  the  house  to  the  entrance  to 
the  grounds  on  the  King's  Bridge  Road,  had  been  built  and 
disposed  of  several  years  before  the  sale  of  the  house. 

Following  this  sale,  Edgecombe  Avenue,  i6oth  Street,  and 
Jumel  Terrace  were  laid  out  by  the  city  and  lots  were  sold  and 
buildings  were  erected.  In  1894,  the  corner  of  the  original 
dooryard,  now  Roger  Morris  Park,  bounded  by  i6oth  Street, 
Jumel  Terrace,  i62d  Street,  and  Edgecombe  Avenue,  was  sold 
by  Mr.  Milliken  to  General  Ferdinand  P.  Earle  for  $100,000, 
the  same  sum  that  he  had  paid  for  about  five  times  the  area, 
seven  years  before. 

On  the  29th  of  July,  1903,  the  property  was  sold  by  the 

widow 


Afterword 


^2-5 


widow  of  General  Earle  to  the  City  of  New  York  for  the  sum  of 
$235,000.  The  purchase  by  the  city  was  urged  by  the  patriotic 
societies,  among  whom  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion took  a  prominent  part,  and  three  years  later  they  were 
given  the  control  of  the  house  by  the  Park  Department  for  a 
Revolutionary  museum.  The  Washington  Heights  Chapter  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  took  immediate 
possession  and  an  association  was  formed  of  four  chapters, 
the  Washington  Heights,  the  Mary  Washington  Colonial,  the 
Knickerbocker,  and  the  Manhattan  Chapters,  which  was  in- 
corporated by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  un- 
der the  title,  "Washington  Headquarters  Association,  founded 
by  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution." 

During  the  three  years  between  the  purchase  of  the  house 
by  the  city  and  its  opening  as  a  museum,  it  stood  neglected, 
without  repairs,  in  care  of  a  single  watchman.  The  fine  old 
colonial  paper,  formerly  on  the  great  drawing-room,  as  repro- 
duced by  Stephen  Jumel  in  1810,  which  had  been  removed 
by  General  Earle,  hung  free  from  the  wall  on  panels  in  the 
guard-room.  This  invaluable  possession  of  the  house,  the 
only  Revolutionary  furnishing  connecting  the  house  with  the 
Washington  period,  was  torn  off  in  small  pieces  and  carried 
away  as  souvenirs  by  visitors  during  those  three  years  of  neg- 
lect. Fortunately,  enough  of  this  paper  was  preserved  to  make 
two  complete  panels,  which  are  now  under  plate  glass. 

In  1906,  twelve  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  by  the 
city  for  repairs  and  restoration.  It  was  an  inadequate  sirni  for 
the  needs  of  the  old  house,  but  more  than  should  have  been 
expended  by  those  who  had  charge  of  the  restoration.  In- 
stead of  employing  the  best  colonial  architect  in  the  city  for 
the  work,  a  good  architect  was  at  first  put  in  charge,  who 
made  the  preliminary  drawings,  but  through  some  sinister 
influence  he  was  removed  to  make  way  for  a  firm  of  political 
architects,  of  no  professional  standing.  The  room  that  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  General  Washington's  private  office  re- 
mains to-day  Affinity  Earle's  studio,  to  make  which  the  ceil- 
ing was  removed  with  the  dormer  window  that  lighted  the 
garret.  The  great  drawing-room  was  upholstered  with  yellow 
satin,  when  it  should  have  had  the  green  colonial  paper  re- 
stored 


Four  chapters  of 
the  Daughters  of 
the  American 
Revolution  in 
charge  of  the 
Museum 


A  period  of  neg- 
lect and  van- 
dalism 


A  liberal  appro- 
priation which 
was  spent  with- 
out proper  archi- 
tectural control 
and  advice 


226 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


A  thorough  re- 
storation needed^ 
under  the  control 
of  the  Municipal 
Art  Commission 


Details  of  needed 
restoration 


Stored  to  its  historic  walls.  The  original  front  doors,  at  the 
time  of  the  so-called  restoration,  were  in  a  carpenter's  shop 
within  a  few  blocks  of  the  house. 

The  interior  of  the  house,  as  it  is  to-day,  is  a  discredit  to 
the  City  of  New  York.  It  sorely  needs  a  thorough  restora- 
tion by  the  best  colonial  architect  in  the  profession,  and  the 
work  should  be  done  under  the  control  of  the  Municipal  Art 
Commission,  by  carpenters  working  with  the  same  tools  that 
were  used  when  the  house  was  built,  and  without  the  use  of 
any  lathe  work  or  machine  work.  If  it  was  worth  while  for  the 
City  of  New  York  to  pay  $235,000  for  the  house,  it  is  worth 
while  for  the  city  to  bear  the  trifling  —  comparatively  trifling 
—  expense  of  restoring  it  to  the  precise  condition  it  was  in  when 
George  Washington  occupied  it. 

As  a  result  of  years  of  study,  a  complete  knowledge  has  been 
gained  of  what  that  restoration  should  be,  and  in  view  of  the 
indifference  of  the  city,  an  opportunity  offers  itself  to  some 
public-spirited  citizen  to  distinguish  himself  by  making  a  taste- 
ful and  complete  colonial  restoration  of  the  old  house. 

Restoration  Needed  in  the  Roger  Morris  House 
External 

1.  Removal  of  the  Earle  kitchen,  and  restoring  to  use  the 
east  side  door  of  passage  to  octagon  parlor. 

2.  Restoration  of  door-fixtures,  sill,  porch  floor,  and  steps 
and  roof  and  railing,  as  on  opposite  side. 

3.  Restoration  of  two  windows,  uncovered  by  removal  of 
kitchen  —  one  looking  north  from  the  butler's  pantry 
and  one  from  the  first  landing  of  the  stairway. 

4.  Restoration  of  a  dormer  window  midway  of  the  east  roof 
of  the  rear  building,  which  formerly  lighted  the  garret. 

5.  Removal  of  the  front  door  and  restoration  of  the  two 
narrow  doors,  as  shown  in  a  photograph  in  possession  of 
the  museum.  These  doors  to  be  hung  with  brass  hinges, 
like  those  on  door  to  balcony  above,  to  have  fan-shaped 
wings  to  enter  mortises  in  door  and  post  and  to  be  fas- 
tened with  wooden  wedges  dipped  in  glue. 

6.  Restoration  of  missing  sections  of  the  stone  flagging, 

twenty-two 


Front  Door  and  Balcony 

Taken  during  the  Kenot'ation 


I 


Afterword 


227 


twenty-two  inches  wide,  bordered  by  stone  drain  eight 
inches  wide,  along  the  walls  of  the  house,  which  origi- 
nally took  the  place  of  an  eave-trough  on  the  roof.  Res- 
toration of  planking  of  front  porch, 
7.  Restoration  of  sash  of  the  east  dormer  window  with  fif- 
teen panes. 

Internal 

1.  Kitchen:  The  interior  restoration  should  begin  with  the 
great  kitchen,  restoring  it  to  its  original  dimensions  of 
twenty  by  thirty  feet,  by  removing  the  modem  brick  wall 
now  separating  the  present  kitchen  from  the  hall.  Be- 
fore any  use  can  be  made  of  the  basement  rooms,  the 
iron  boxes  enclosing  the  under-floor  heating  apparatus 
should  be  removed  and  the  steam  coils,  throughout  the 
house,  should  be  sunk  out  of  sight  in  the  walls  under  the 
windows,  as  in  the  Governor's  room  in  the  City  Hall. 
The  kitchen  and  the  offices  opening  from  it  should  be 
floored  with  old  planks;  the  high  wainscot  restored,  like 
that  in  the  laundry;  and  the  great  fireplace  and  oven  re- 
stored ;  in  this  case,  leaving  minor  details  to  the  discre- 
tion of  a  Colonial  architect. 

2.  Octagon  Parlor  (court-martial  room):  Reproduction  of 
the  colonial  paper  on  wood  blocks,'  and  restoration  to 
the  walls,  the  panels  lined  with  buckram  and  hung  free 
from  the  cornice;  removal  of  the  modern  Adams  ceiling 
and  modem  ornament  on  eighteen  wainscot  panels;  res- 
toration to  the  inside  shutters  of  a  brass  disk,  one  and 
one  half  inches  in  diameter,  showing  a  lion's  head  in 
low  relief,  with  a  ring  depending  from  the  mouth,  orig- 
inally used  to  close  the  shutters:  this  fixture  also  used 
in  dining-room,  reception-room,  and  hall  on  first  floor. 
On  windows  having  four  shutters,  this  disk  should  be 
twenty-nine  inches  above  base  of  lower  shutter  and  four 
inches  above  base  of  upper  shutter  and  to  center  one 
inch  from  edge.  This  fixture  was  also  used  on  the  shut- 
ters of  the  Washington  Bedroom,  and  seventy-two  will 

be 

'  This  paper  has  already  been  reproduced  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  J. 
Sanford  Saltus. 


Internal 
restoration 


The  Octagon 
Parlor 


The  brass  disk., 
of  the  size  of  a 
half  dollar^ 
showing  a  lion's 
head 


228 


The  Jumel  Mansion 


Restoration  of 
the  Guard-Room 


Of  the  Butlers 
Pantry 


Of  the  Dining- 
Room 


Of  the  Second 
Floor  ' 


Of  the  Wash- 
ington Bedroom 

Of  the  Wash- 
ington Office 


Of  the  Garret 

floor 


be  required  to  replace  the  original  brasses  removed.  On 
most  shutters  the  mark  of  this  fixture  is  still  visible. 

3.  Guard-Room:  Restoration  to  the  fireplace  of  the  heavy 
iron  plates  now  in  the  cellar;  reopening  of  a  cupboard  in 
the  east  wall. 

4.  The  Butler's  Pantry:  Removal  of  shelving  and  modem 
wainscot ;  restoration  of  flight  of  five  steps  from  door  on 
landing  to  correspond  with  the  five  steps  in  main  hall 
from  same  landing,  which  served  originally  as  back  stairs. 

5.  Dining-Room:  Restoration  of  a  cupboard  at  the  east  end 
of  the  alcove  above  the  door  into  the  butler's  pantry. 
The  cross  cornice,  thirty-five  inches  from  the  end  wall, 
shows  that  a  curtain  of  wall  fell  to  the  top  of  the  door 
and  that  a  cupboard  must  have  been  there. 

6.  Second  Floor:  Removal  of  the  modern  door  between  the 
northwest  and  the  southwest  chambers  and  the  removal 
of  the  mantelpieces  in  each  room,  to  be  replaced  by  others 
of  the  same  pattern,  but  of  colonial  workmanship. 

7.  Washington  Bedroom:  Removal  of  the  contract-made 
mantelpiece,  and  colonial  restoration  for  the  same  reason. 

8.  Rear  Chamber  known  as  Washington's  Office:  Restora- 
tion of  the  low  ceiling  and  original  cornice  in  plaster; 
removal  of  the  brass  hob-grate  from  the  fireplace  and  of 
two  slabs  of  modern  stone  from  the  hearth;  the  hearth 
to  be  laid  with  red  brick  to  match  the  brick  of  the  chim- 
ney, and  the  blackened  back  and  sides  of  the  fireplace  to 
remain  uncovered;  the  old  fossiliferous  limestone  border 
of  the  hearth  and  fireplace  to  be  carefully  preserved. 
This  is  one  of  the  few  mantelpieces  never  disturbed. 

9.  The  Garret:  Floor  to  be  restored  over  the  "Washington 
Office"  with  boards  to  match  the  old  floor;  the  side  walls 
of  the  garret  to  be  extended  north,  the  present  railing 
removed,  and  the  approach  to  the  dormer  window  con- 
structed. N.B.  Examination  of  the  rafters  on  the  west 
roof  should  be  made  for  a  possible  dormer  window  on  that 
side. 

Also,  it  is  desirable,  either  by  city  purchase,  or  through  pri- 
vate bounty,  that  the  original  carriageway  to  King's  Bridge 

Road, 


Afterword 


229 


Road,  now  St.  Nicholas  Avenue,  should  be  restored  to  the 
mansion  in  the  form  of  a  parkway,  instead  of  a  short  and 
useless  private  street.  This  needed  section  of  the  original 
dooryard,  known  as  "Sylvan  Terrace,"  is  a  tract  one  hun- 
dred feet  wide  by  two  hundred  feet  long,  occupied  by  a  double 
row  of  wooden  houses  which  constitute  a  serious  menace  to 
the  mansion,  in  case  of  a  fire  starting  in  such  houses  during 
the  prevailing  west  winds  of  winter. 

Furthermore,  if  this  restoration  of  the  old  colonial  house, 
through  the  influence  of  these  pages,  shall  be  brought  about, 
either  by  private  or  by  public  funds,  the  book  will  not  have 
been  written  in  vain. 

All  honor  to  the  stanch  old  house  that  stands  on  its  firm 
foundation,  after  long  years  of  obloquy,  and  again  holds  up  its 
head  among  houses  without  fear  of  shame,  as  it  enters  upon 
the  third  period  of  its  career,  that  should  be  the  longest  and 
the  most  honorable ! 


An  tntrancefrom 
St.  Nicholas 
Avenue  and  a 
protection  from 
fire 


THE    END 


Appendix 


2-33 


appendix 

A 

Text  of  the  Carrol  Deed  ^  1 763 

If 

Following  is  the  full  text  of  the  Carrol  deed  of  1763.  The 
"Jno.  Watts,"  who  makes  the  memorandum  of  record,  was  the 
John  Watts  of  the  King's  Council,  who  left  the  country  with 
Roger  Morris  in  1775:  — 

This  Indenture  made  this  Twenty  ninth  of  January  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  three, 
between  Jacob  Dyckman,  Senr,  and  Yantie  his  wife,  Jacob  Dyck- 
man,  Junr,  and  Catilintie,  his  wife,  William  Dyckman  and  Maria 
his  wife,  Abraham  Kearson,  all  of  the  Township  of  Harlem  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  yeoman,  and  John  Vermelier  and  Charity 
his  wife,  Abraham  Odel  and  Rebeckah,  his  wife,  and  Jonathan 
Odle  and  Margaret,  his  wife,  all  of  Westchester  County  in  the 
province  of  New  York,  yeoman,  of  the  one  part,  and  James  Car- 
rol of  the  City  of  New  York  of  the  other  part  witnesseth  that  the 
said  parties  of  the  first  part  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum 
of  One  Thousand  pounds  of  good  and  lawful  money  of  New  York 
to  them  in  hand  paid  before  the  sealing  and  delivering  of  these 
presents  by  the  said  James  Carrol,  the  Receipt  whereof  is  hereby 
acknowledged  and  themselves  to  be  therewith  fully  Satisfied  and 
paid  and  thereof  and  of  every  part  hereof  do  acquit,  release  and 
discharge  the  said  James  Carrol  his  heirs  Executors  and  Admin- 
istrators, by  these  presents  they  the  said  parties  of  the  first  part 
above  mentioned  Have  granted,  bargained,  released  and  Con- 
firmed and  Do  by  these  presents.  Grant,  bargain,  sell,  alien,  re- 
lease and  Confirm  unto  the  said  James  Carrol  in  his  actual  pos- 
session now  being  by  virtue  of  a  Bargain  sale  and  Lease  for  one 
year  to  him  thereof  made  bearing  date  the  day  before  the  day  of 
the  date  of  these  presents  and  by  force  and  virtue  of  the  Statute 
made  for  transferring  uses  into  possession  and  to  his  heirs  and 
assigns  forever,  All  those  certain  Lotts,  Tracts,  and  parcells  of 
land  and  premises  bounded  as  follows  to  wit,  one  certain  Tract 
of  land,  Scituate  lying  and  being  in  the  Township  of  New  Harlem, 

aforesaid, 


The  John  Watts 
who  sailed  away 
on  the  Harriet 
Pecquet  and 
never  came  back 


For  a  thousand 
pounds  of  good 
and  lawful 
money  of  New 
Tort 


One  certain 
Tract  in  Scituate 


2'34 


Appendix 


As  the  fence  novo 
standi  along  by 
the  land  of  the 
said  fohn  Low 


Also  one  certain 
piece  or  parcel  of 
IVood  Land 


Also  one  full  Lott 
of  wood  Land 


Also  one  other 
Lott  known  by  the 
name  of  number 
eight 


aforesaid,  on  the  West  side  of  the  highway  leading  from  New  York 
to  Kingsbridge,  beginning  at  the  north  east  corner  of  the  Land  of 
John  Low  at  the  West  side  of  the  said  highway  in  the  South  east 
Corner  of  the  said  tract  of  land  and  running  from  thense  with  a 
Straight  Course  westerly  as  the  fence  now  stands  along  by  the 
land  of  the  said  John  Low  until  it  comes  to  Hudsons  River,  thense 
running  northwardly  along  the  said  River  unto  the  land  of  the 
said  John  Low,  late  belonging  to  Lawrence  Kortwright,  and  from 
thense  running  Easterly  along  the  line  of  the  said  John  Low  as 
the  fence  now  stands  until  it  comes  to  the  highway  aforesaid 
thence  along  the  said  highway  unto  the  place  of  beginning  con- 
taining forty  acres  more  or  less;  Also  one  other  Certain  Tract  of 
Land  scituate,  lying  and  being  in  the  same  Township  of  New 
Harlem  on  the  East  side  of  the  above  said  highway  beginning 
at  the  north  corner  of  the  Land  of  the  above  named  John  Low, 
late  of  John  Dyckman,  and  Running  from  thence  by  and  with  the 
said  highway  into  the  land  of  John  Benson  from  thence  running 
in  a  Straight  line  along  the  land  of  John  Benson  until  it  comes 
to  Harlem  River  and  from  thence  by  the  said  Harlem  River  to 
the  Southward  until  it  comes  to  the  land  of  the  above  named 
John  Low,  from  thence  Running  westerly  along  the  land  of  the 
said  John  Low  to  the  place  of  beginning  containing  twenty  acres 
more  or  less,  Also  one  certain  piece  or  parcel  of  Wood  Land  scit- 
uate lying  and  being  in  the  said  Township  of  New  Harlem  (that 
is  to  say)  the  one  full  half  of  that  certain  Lott  known  by  the  name 
of  number  seventeen  in  last  division  as  laid  out  by  Peter  Berian 
being  the  northermost  one  half  of  the  said  Lott  number  Seven- 
teen and  divided  by  and  between  John  Kierson  and  Garrit  Dyck- 
man and  then  laid  out  for  the  property  of  the  said  John  Kierson 
his  heirs  and  assigns  for  ever;  Also  one  full  Lott  of  wood  Land 

known  by  the  name  of  lot  number  seven  containing  acres 

more  or  less  and  runs  from  the  highway  between  the  lands  of 
Johannis  Waldron  and  Arent  Bussing  to  Hudsons  River;  Also 
one  other  Lott  known  by  the  name  of  number  three  containing 
six  acres  more  or  less  and  runs  from  the  highway  between  the 
lands  of  Baxent  Waldron  &  Mark  Tiebout  to  the  middle  line  in 
the  said  division  in  the  fourth  division;  Also  one  other  Lott  known 
by  the  name  of  number  eight  containing  four  acres  and  a  half 
more  or  less;  Also  a  certain  piece  or  Lot  of  salt  meadow  lying  and 
scituate  within  the  said  Township  of  New  Harlem  upon  the  North 
Northnest  Branch  of  the  round  meadow,  kill  or  creek,  beginning 
at  a  certain  place  known  by  the  name  of  Peter  Tieneer's  Brook 
or  Fall  where  the  said  Brook  or  Fall  meets  with  the  salt  meadow 
running  about  northeast  by  the  edge  of  the  upland  of  Jacob  Dyck- 
man until  it  meets  with  the  land  of  John  Nagal  being  a  corner 
boundage  from  thence  running  southerly  by  the  Edge  of  the  up- 
land of  said  John  Nagel  until  it  meets  with  the  said  round  meadow 
creek  or  kill  being  a  boundage  from  thence  with  the  said  creek 

or 


Appendix 


or  kill  until  it  meets  with  the  branch  that  Runs  into  the  above 
said  Tiener's  Brook  or  Fall  and  from  thence  to  the  first  mentioned 
boundage  containing  four  acres  more  or  less  Together  with  all 
and  Singular  the  Orchards,  Gardens,  Fences,  Trees,  Woods, 
underwoods,  Fields,  feedings,  pastures,  meadows,  marshes, 
swamps,  ponds,  pools,  lakes,  streams.  Rivulets,  Runs,  and  Streams 
of  Water,  Fishing,  Fowling,  Hunting,  Hawking  and  all  other 
profits,  privileges,  advantages,  Emoluments,  Hereditaments, 
right  of  Commonage,  and  appurtenances  to  the  same  belonging 
a  anywise  appertaining  or  therewithal!  now  or  at  any  time  here- 
tofore used  occupied  possessed  or  enjoyed  or  accepted  reputed  or 
known  to  be  part  or  parcel  thereof  and  the  reversions  remainder 
and  remainders  thereof  and  also  all  the  Estate,  right.  Title,  dower, 
Interest,  property,  claim,  and  Demand  Whatsoever  of  them  the 
said  parties  of  the  first  part  of  this  present  Indenture  of  release 
mentioned  and  named  orof  in  or  to  any  part  or  parcel  thereof,  to 
Have  and  to  Hold  the  said  Tracts  and  parcels  of  land  and  premises 
with  their  and  each  and  every  of  their  hereditaments  and  appur- 
tenances and  every  part  and  parcel  thereof  unto  him  the  said 
James  Carrol  his  heirs  and  assigns  against  them  the  said  parties 
of  the  first  part  before-mentioned  and  named  and  their  heirs  and 
against  all  and  every  other  person  or  persons  whatsoever  shall 
and  will  warrent,  and  by  these  presents  forever  defend,  and  they 
the  beforementloned  parties  of  the  first  part  for  themselves  their 
heirs  Executors  and  administrators  Do  covenant  and  agree  to 
and  with  the  said  James  Carrol  his  heirs  and  assigns  in  manner 
and  form  following  that  is  to  say  that  they  the  parties  of  the  first 
part  at  and  immediately  before  the  sealing  and  delivery  of  these 
presents  are  and  do  stand  Lawfully  seized  in  their  own  right  of 
and  in  the  said  Lots  Tracts  and  parcels  of  land  and  premises  of  a 
good  estate  in  fee  simple  and  have  in  themselves  Good  right  full 
power  and  Lawful  and  absolute  authority  to  grant  bargain  sell 
Release  and  confirm  the  same  and  every  part  &  parcel  thereof 
unto  him  the  said  James  Carrol  his  heirs  and  assigns  in  manner 
and  form  afi"oresaid  and  Also  that  he  the  said  James  Carrol  his 
heirs  and  assigns  shall  and  may  by  force  and  virtue  of  these  pre- 
sents freely,  quietly,  and  peaceably  have,  hold,  use,  enjoy  and 
keep  the  said  Lotts,  Tracts  and  parcels  of  Land  and  premises  and 
the  Rents  and  Profits  thereof  receive  and  take  to  and  for  his  and 
their  own  proper  use  and  Behoof  without  the  Lawful  Lett  Suit, 
trouble,  denial.  Interruption  or  Contradiction  of  or  by  the  said 
parties  to  the  first  part,  or  any  or  either  of  them,  or  any  claiming 
or  to  claim  by  from  or  under  them  or  either  of  them  or  any  other 
person  or  persons  whatsoever  and  that  free  and  clear  and  freely 
and  clearly  acquitted  and  discharged  of  otherwise  well  and  suffi- 
ciently saved  harmless  and  kept  indemnified  by  them  the  said 
parties  of  the  first  part  of  this  present  Indenture  of  release  men- 
tioned and  named  and  by  each  and  every  of  them  and  their  heirs 

and 


2-35 


Fishings  Fowl- 
ing, Hunting, 
Hawking 


Each  and  every 
of  their  heredita- 
ments and  appur- 
tenances 


That  said  fames 
Carrol  shall 
freely,  quietly, 
and  peaceably 
have,  hold,  use, 
enjoy,  etc. 


236 


Appendix 


Gifts^  Grants^ 
Bargains^  Title 
of  Dower  ^ 
changes. 
Troubles^  and 
Incumbrances 
had,  made,  or 
done 


To  "James  Car- 
rol, his  heirs  and 
assigns 


The  parties  to 
these  presents 


Sealed  and  de- 
livered 


and  assigns  of  and  from  all  former  or  other  Gifts,  Grants,  Bar- 
gains, Sales,  Leases,  Releases,  Jointures,  dower  Right  and  Title 
of  Dower,  Judgements,  Mortgages,  Executions  and  all  other 
changes,  titles  Troubles,  and  Incumbrances  whatsoever  had  made. 
Committed,  done  or  suffered  or  to  be  had,  made.  Committed 

done  or  suffered,  by  them  the  said  parties  of  the part  or  by 

any  or  either  of  them  or  their  heirs  or  assigns  or  any  other  per- 
son whatsoever. 

And  lastly  that  they  the  said  parties  of  the  first  part  and  their 
heirs  and  all  and  every  other  person  or  persons  whatsoever  having 
or  Lawfully  claiming  any  estate,  right.  Title  or  interest  of  in  to 
or  under  them  or  either  of  them  shall  and  will  from  time  to  time 
and  at  all  times  hereafter  at  or  upon  the  reasonable  request,  proper 
costs  and  charges  in  the  law  of  the  said  James  Carrol,  his  heirs 
and  assigns,  well  and  sufficiently  further  to  acknowledge  and 
Execute  or  cause  to  be  done,  acknowledged  and  executed  this  and 
all  and  every  such  further  and  other  Lawful  and  reasonable  act 
or  acts,  deed  or  deeds.  Conveyances  and  assurance,  in  the  Law 
Whatsoever  for  the  further  better  and  more  perfect  assurance, 
surety,  and  sure  making,  releaseing,  conveying,  and  assuring  the 
Said  Lotts  Tracts  and  parcels  of  land  and  premises  with  the  ap- 
purtenances unto  the  said  James  Carrol  his  heirs  and  assigns  for 
ever  as  by  the  said  James  Carrol  his  heirs  or  assigns  or  his  and 
their  Councill  Learned  in  the  Law  shall  be  reasonably  advised, 
devised  or  required. 

In  witness  whereof  the  parties  to  these  presents  have  hereunto 
Interchangeably  set  their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  first 
above  written. 

Jacob  Dyckman  (LS) 

Jannetje  her  X  mark  (LS) 

Jacob  Deykmont  (LS) 

Catalyntie  her  X  mark  Dyckman  (LS) 

Willem  Dyckman  (LS) 

Mary  her  X  mark  Deykman  (LS) 

John  Vermilye  (LS) 

Gerritye  her  X  mark  Vermilye  (LS) 

Abraham  Odle  (LS) 

Rabeckh  Odell  (LS) 

Jonathan  Odell  (LS) 

Margaret  Odel  (LS) 

sealed  and  delivered  the  words  Harlem  River  &  from  thence 
by  the  said  Harlem  River  to  the  southward  until  it  comes  to  be- 
ing one  of  the  Courses  in  the  Second  Lott  is  twice  wrote  over  & 
therefore  scored.  In  the  presence  of  Neal  Shaw  Richard  Varian 
Harman  Knickerbocker.  Received  on  the  day  and  year  within 
written  of  and  from  the  within  named  James  Carrol  the  within 
mentioned  sum  of  One  Thousand  pounds  being  the  consideration 

money 


Appendix 


money  within  mentioned  to  be  paid  £1000,  Jacob  Dyckman, 
Jacob  Dyckman,  Jr,  Willie  Deyckman,  John  Vermilye,  Abraham 
Odell,  Jonathan  Odell. 

Memorandum  that  on  the  sixth  day  of  June  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  Thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  four  Personally 
came  and  appeared  before  me,  John  Watts  Esq.  one  of  his  majes- 
ties Council  for  the  Province  of  New  York,  Neal  Shaw,  one  of 
the  subscribing  witnesses  to  the  within  written  Indenture  of  re- 
lease and  being  duly  sworn  declared  that  he  was  present  at  and 
saw  the  within  named  Jacob  Dyckman  and  Cathelyntie  his  wife, 
William  Dyckman  and  Mary  his  wife,  John  Vermilye  and  Gar- 
ritye  his  wife,  Abraham  Odell  and  Rebeckah  his  wife  and  Jona- 
than Odell  and  Margaret  his  wife.  Severally  sign  seal  and  as  their 
severall  act  and  deed  deliver  the  said  Indenture  of  Release  within 
mentioned  to  the  uses  and  purposes  therein  mentioned  and  that 
he  the  deponent  Together  with  Richard  Varian  and  Harman 
Knickerbacker  Severally  subscribed  their  names  as  witnesses  there- 
unto and  I  having  perused  the  same  and  finding  no  eraizures  nor 
interlineations  therein  nor  words  scored  Except  such  as  are  taken 
Notice  of  in  a  memorandum  made  and  done  before  the  Execution 
thereof  do  allow  the  same  to  be  recorded. 

Jno.  Watts. 


^37 


On  the  sixth  day 
of  "June  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord 
one  Thousand 
seven  hundred 
and  sixty  four 


John  Watts 


238 


In  the  thirty  first 
year  of  the  reign 
of  our  Sovereign 
Lord  George  the 
Second 

In  consideration 
of  a  Marriage 
intended  to  be  had 
and  Solemnized 


Unto  the  said 
"Johanna  Phil- 
lips^ Beverly 
Robinson^  and 
to  their  heirs 


Appendix 
B 

The  Marriage  Settlement  of 
Mary  Philipse 

n 

This  Indenture  made  the  fourteenth  day  of  Jany  in  the  31st 
year  of  the  reign  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  George  the  Second  by  the 
grace  of  God  of  Great  Brittain  France  and  Ireland  King  de- 
fender of  the  faith  &c;  and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1758:  Between 
Mary  Phillips  of  the  first  part  Major  Roger  Morris  of  the  Second 
part,  and  Johanna  Phillips,  and  Beverly  Robinson,  of  the  third 
part  Witnesseth  that  in  consideration  of  a  Marriage  intended 
to  be  had  and  Solemnized  between  the  said  Roger  Morris  &  Mary 
Phillips  and  the  settlement  herein  after  made  by  the  said  Roger 
Morris  on  the  said  Mary  Phillips  and  for  and  in  Consideration 
of  the  sum  of  five  Shillings  current  money  of  the  Province  of  New 
York  by  the  said  Johanna  Phillips  and  Beverly  Robinson  to  her 
the  said  Mary  Phillips  at  or  before  the  Ensealing  &  delivering  of 
these  presents  well  and  truly  paid  the  recept  whereof  is  hereby 
acknowledged  and  for  divers  other  Good  causes  and  considerations 
her  thereunto  moving  She  the  said  Mary  Phillips  hath  granted 
bargained  Sold  Released  and  confirmed  and  by  these  presents 
doth  Grant  Bargain  sell  release  and  confirm  unto  the  said  Johanna 
Phillips  &  Beverly  Robinson  (in  the  actual  Possession  now  being 
by  virtue  of  a  bargain  and  sale  to  them  thereof  made  for  one 
whole  Year  by  Indenture  bearing  date  the  day  next  before  the  day 
of  the  date  of  these  presents  and  by  force  of  the  Statute  for  Trans- 
ferring of  uses  into  Possession)  and  to  their  heirs. 

All  those  Several  Lotts  or  parcells  of  land  known  by  the  several 
Names  of  Lott  number  three,  Number  five,  and  number  nine, 
and  one  third  part  of  the  Meadow  Land  lying  in  lot  No  two  which 
Lotts  Lotts  Number  3,  5,  9,  and  two,  are  part  of  a  certain  tract 
or  parsal  of  Land  granted  unto  Adolph  Phillips  since  deceased  by 
his  Late  Majesty  King  William  the  third  by  his  Letters  Patent 

under 


Appendix 


2-39 


under  the  Great  seal  of  the  Province  of  New  York:  Bearing  date 
the  Seventeenth  day  of  June  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  1697:  Scit- 
uate  lying  and  being  in  Dutchess  County  in  the  High  Lands  on 
the  East  side  of  Hudsons  River:  and  are  butted  and  bounded  as 
follows:  To  wit  Lott  No  3  beginning  at  two  Hemlock  bushes 
Standing  in  a  gully  between  Bull  and  Brakeneck  Hills  on  the  East 
side  of  Hudsons  River  and  from  thence  running  N.  77  degrees 
East  386  Chains  to  a  heap  of  Stones  and  walnut  bush  Marked 
P.R.  1753:  standing  in  the  west  lone  of  Lot  No  4  and  is  also  the 
Northeast  corner  of  lott  number  two:  then  North  ten  degrees 
East  228  chains  to  a  heap  of  Stones  thirty  links  North  of  a  White 
oak  Tree  marked  P  1753  being  the  north  west  corner  of  Lott 
Number  four,  then  South  eighty  seven  degrees  west  408  Chains 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Fishkill  from  thence  down  the  several  courses 
of  Hudsons  River  to  the  beginning,  including  Pollapes  Island: 
Containing  about  8600  Acres:  — 

Lott  Number  5  beginning  at  a  heap  of  Stones  in  the  line  of  the 
Mannor  of  Courtland  at  the  Southeast  corner  of  Lot  Number  4, 
then  North  ten  degrees  east  947  Chains  to  a  heap  of  Stones  at 
the  Northeast  corner  of  lot  No  6  then  North  87  degrees  East  344 
Chains  to  a  heap  of  Stones  which  is  the  North  West  corner  of 
Lott  No  6  thence  south  10  Degrees  West  along  the  line  of  Lot 
No  6  960  Chains  to  a  heap  of  Stones  In  the  line  of  then  Manor  of 
Courtland,  at  the  Southwest  corner  of  lot  No  6:  Then  west  along 
the  line  of  the  mannor  of  Courtland  340  Chains  to  the  beginning 
containing  about  31,200  Acres:  — 

Lot  Number  9  Beginning  at  a  hemlock  tree  Standing  on  the 
south  side  of  the  East  Branch  of  Croton  River,  and  a  heap  of 
Stones  on  the  north  side,  which  is  also  the  Southeast  Corner  of 
lot  No  6,  in  the  line  of  the  mannor  of  Courtland  from  thence 
running  North  ten  degrees  East  333  Chains  to  a  heap  of  Stones 
and  a  Walnut  tree  mark'd  P.R.1753,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Hill  near  an  old  meeting  House  in  the  line  of  Lott  No  6  being 
the  Southwest  Corner  of  Lott  No  8:  then  East  along  the  line  of 
Lott  No  8:  337  Chains  to  a  Chesnut  bush  marked  P.R.1753 
Standing  in  the  Oblong  line  on  the  west  side  of  Rocky  Hill  which 
is  the  Southeast  corner  of  lot  No  8:  thence  Southerly  as  the  oblong 
line  Runs  333  to  the  northeast  corner  of  the  mannor  of  Court- 
land  in  Peach  Pond  thence  West  along  the  said  Mannor  of  Court- 
land  336  Chains  to  the  begining  about  11,220  Acres: 

And  the  one  third  part  of  the  Meadow  land  lying  in  lot  No  2; 
Beginning  five  Chains  from  the  upland  upon  Danfords  Creek  and 
running  to  Crooked  Creek  five  chains  from  the  upland  then  down 
Crooked  Creek  to  the  Meadow  belonging  to  lot  No  i  the  North- 
west to  Martless  Rock  then  along  the  upland  the  North  side  of 
little  Island  in  the  meadow  to  the  mouth  of  Danfords  creek  then 
up  the  said  Creek  to  the  beginning  containng  82  Acres:  — 

And  also  all  &  Singular  other  the  lands  tenements  Heriditi- 

ments 


Beginning  at  two 
Hemlock  bushes 
Standing  in  a 
gully  between 
Bull  and  Brake- 
neck  Hills 


Lott  Number  J 
beginning  at  a 
heap  of  Stones^ 
containing 
jiy20o  Acres 


Lott  Number  g 
Beginning  at  a 
hemlock  tree, 
containing 
II, 2 20  Acres 


And  the  one  third 
part  of  the  Mea- 
dow land  upon 
Danfords  Creek 


240 


And  all  and 
Singular  her 
other  lands,  etc. 


To  the  use  and 

behoof  of  such 
Child  or  Chil- 
dren as  shall  or 
may  be  procreated 
between  them 


Provided  that  it 
may  be  lawful 
for  the  said 
Roger  Morris 
and  Mary  Phil- 
lips during  the 
said  marriage 


appendix 


ments  and  real  Estate  whatsoever  &  wheresoever  of  her  the  said 
Mary  Phillips  and  also  all  the  Estate  Right  title  Interest  Posses- 
sion claim  &  Demand  whatsoever  of  her  the  said  Mary  Phillips 
of  in  and  to  all  and  Singular  the  said  lots  or  parcels  of  Land  above 
mentioned  and  Described  and  all  and  Singular  her  other  lands 
Tenements  Heriditaments  and  real  Estate  whatsoever  or  any  part 
or  percel  thereof  with  the  Appertenances  to  have  and  to  hold  all 
and  Singular  the  said  several  lots  of  land  herein  before  mentioned 
or  intended  to  be  hereby  released  and  all  and  Singular  other  the 
Lands  Tenements  Heriditaments  and  real  estate  whatsoever  of 
Her  the  said  Mary  Phillips,  with  their  and  every  of  their  members 
and  Appertenances  unto  the  said  Johanna  Phillips  and  Beverly 
Robinson,  and  their  Heirs:  To  and  for  the  several  uses  intents 
and  purposes  herein  after  declared  expressed  limited  and  ap- 
pointed and  to  &  for  no  other  use  intent  and  purpose  whatsoever 
that  is  to  say  to  and  for  the  use  and  behoof  of  them  the  said 
Johanna  Phillips  &  Beverly  Robinson  And  their  Heirs  until  the 
Solemnization  of  the  said  Intended  Marriage  and  from  and  Imme- 
diately after  the  Solemnization  of  the  Intended  Marriage  then  to 
the  use  and  behoof  of  the  said  Mary  Phillips  and  Roger  Morris 
and  the  Surviver  of  them  for  &  during  the  term  of  their  natural 
lives,  without  Impeachment  of  waste  and  from  and  after  the 
determination  of  that  Estate  then  to  the  use  &  behoof  of  such 
Child  or  Children  as  shall  or  may  be  procreated  between  them 
and  to  his  her  or  their  Heirs  and  Assigns  forever  but  in  case  the 
said  Roger  Morris  and  Mary  Phillips  shall  have  no  Child  or  Chil- 
dren begotten  between  them  or  that  such  Child  or  Children  shall 
happen  to  die  during  the  lifetime  of  the  said  Roger  and  Mary  and 
the  said  Mary  should  survive  the  said  Roger  without  issue  then 
to  the  use  &  Behoof  of  her  the  said  Mary  Phillips  and  for  Heirs 
and  assigns  forever  and  in  case  the  said  Roger  Aiorris  should 
Survive  the  said  Mary  Phillips  without  any  Issue  by  her  or  that 
such  Issue  is  then  dead  without  leaving  Issue  then  after  the  de- 
cease of  the  said  Roger  Morris  to  the  only  use  and  Behoof  of  such 
person,  or  persons,  and  in  such  manner  and  form  as  she  the  said 
Mary  Phillips  shall  at  any  time  during  the  said  Intended  Man- 
age devise  the  same  by  her  Last  Will  and  Testament  which  last 
will  and  Testament  for  that  purpose:  it  is  hereby  agreed  by  all 
the  parties  to  those  presents  that  it  shall  be  Lawfull  for  her  at 
any  time  during  the  said  Mariage  to  make  public  and  declare  the 
said  mariage  or  any  thing  herein  contained  to  the  Contrary 
thereof  in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 

Provided  Nevertheless,  and  it  is  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
of  the  parties  to  these  presents  that  it  shall  &  maybe  Lawfull  to 
and  for  the  said  Roger  Morris,  &  Mary  Phillips  jointly  at  any 
time  or  times  during  the  said  marriage  to  sell  and  Dispose  of  any 
part  of  the  said  several  Lots  and  percels  of  Land  or  any  other 
her  lands  teniments  Heriditaments  and  real  estate  whatever  to 

the 


Appendix 


the  value  of  three  Thousand  Pounds  Current  money  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  New  York;  and  in  case  the  said  sum  of  three  Thousand 
Pounds  be  not  reised  by  such  sale  or  Sales  during  their  joint  lives 
and  they  have  Issue  between  them  that  then  it  shall  be  Lawfull 
for  the  surviver  of  them  to  raise  the  said  sum  by  the  sale  of  any 
part  of  the  said  lands;  or  such  deficiency  thereof  as  shall  not  then 
have  been  already  raised  thereout  so  as  to  make  up  the  said  full 
sum  of  three  thousand  Pounds. 

Any  Thing  herein  before  Contained  to  the  conterary  thereof 
in  any  wise  notwithstanding  and  the  said  Roger  Morris  for  and 
in  consideration  of  the  premises  and  the  sum  of  five  Shillings  cur- 
rent money  of  the  Province  of  New  York  to  him  in  hand  paid  by 
the  said  Johanna  Phillips  and  Beverly  Robinson,  Doth  hereby 
for  himself  his  Heirs  Executors  and  Administrators  Covenant 
promise  grant  and  agree  to  and  with  the  said  Johanna  Phillips 
and  Beverly  Robinson  their  and  each  of  their  Executors  and  Ad- 
ministrators in  manner  &  form  following  that  is  to  say  that  in 
case  the  said  Mary  Phillips  shall  survive  him  the  said  Roger 
Morris  that  then  &  in  such  case  immediately  after  his  Death  all 
and  singular  the  monie  and  Personal  estate  whatsoever  whereof 
he  shall  die  Possessed  shall  be  Accounted  the  proper  monies  and 
Estate  of  the  said  Mary  Phillips  during  the  Natural  life  and  after 
her  Decease  in  case  there  be  no  Issue  begotten  between  the  said 
Roger  Morris  &  Mary  Phillips  then  living  that  then  the  said 
monies  and  Personal  Estate  shall  and  may  be  had  and  taken  by 
the  Executors  and  administrators  of  the  said  Roger  Morris  these 
presents  or  any  thing  herein  Contained  to  the  Conterary  thereof 
in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 

but  if  such  Child  or  Children  shall  survive  the  said  Roger 
Morris  and  Mary  Phillips  then  the  said  monies  and  Estate  to  be 
divided  among  them  in  such  shares  and  proportions  as  he  the 
said  Roger  Morris  shall  think  fit  at  any  time  hereafter  by  his  last 
will  and  Testament  or  otherwise  to  order  and  direct 

In  Witness  wherfof  all  the  parties  first  above  named  have  to 
three  Parts  hereof  all  of  the  same  tenor  and  date  set  their  hands 
and  seals  the  date  and  Year  first  above  written. 


Mary  Phillips  (L.S.) 
Roger  Morris  (L.S.) 


Johanna  Phillips  (L.S.) 
Beverly  Robinson  (L.S.) 


Sealed  and  Delivered  the  words  (then  south  ten  degrees  West 
along  the  line  of  Lot  Number  six)  being  first  interlined  between 
the  sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  lines  of  the  first  Sheet  and  the 
words  (thirteenth)  wrote  on  a  razure.  In  the  Presence  of  William 
Levingstone  Sarah  Williams. 

Be  it  remembered  that  on  the  first  day  of  April  in  the  Year  of 
our  Lord  1787:  Personally  came  and  appeared  before  me  John 
SIoss  Hobard  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  —  William  Levingstone  Esqr.  Governor  of 

the 


241 


Three  Thousand 
Pounds  Current 
money  of  the 
Province  of  New 
York 


And  the  sum  of 
five  shillings 
current  money  of 
the  Province  of 
New  York 


but  if  such  Child 
or  Children  shall 
survive  the  said 
Roger  Morris 
and  Mary  Phil- 
lips the  monies 
and  Estate  — 
to  them 


Personally  ap- 
peared before  me 
"John  Sloss 
Hobard 


242 


Appendix 


Finding  no  me- 
terial  Eraxures 
or  Interlinations 
therein^  etc., 
do  allow  the  same 
to  be  Recorded 


Above  marriage 
settlement  to  be 
found  on  page 
55O1  of  the  20th 
volume  of  Deeds 
in  the  ojffice  of  the 
Secretary  of 
State  at  Albany 


the  State  of  New  Jersey  one  of  the  subscribing  witnesses  to  the 
within  written  Indenture  who  being  by  me  duly  sworne  did  tes- 
tify &  declare  that  he  was  present  at  or  about  the  day  of  the  date 
of  the  within  Indenture  &  did  see  the  within  named  Johanna 
Phillips  Beverly  Robinson  Roger  Morris  &  Mary  Phillips  Sign 
and  seal  the  same  Indenture  and  deliver  it  as  their  Voluntary 
Act  and  deed,  for  the  uses  and  purposes  therein  mentioned  and 
I  have  carefully  Inspected  the  same  and  finding  no  meterial 
Erazures  or  Interlinations  therein  other  than  those  noted  to  have 
been  made  before  the  execution  thereof  do  allow  the  same  to  be 
Recorded. 

John  Sloss  Hobard. 

The  Preceeding  deed  was  recorded  at  the  request  of  John 
Watts  Jr.  Esqr.  and  is  a  true  coppy  of  the  Original  thereof  Exam- 
ined and  compared  therewith  this  nth  Day  of  Apl.  1787  by  me 

Robert  Harper,  D.  Secretary 

The  above  transcript  of  the  indenture  between  Mary  Phillips, 
Major  Roger  Morris,  Johanna  Phillips,  and  Beverly  Robinson, 
January  31,  1758,  was  made  from  the  manuscript  copy  of  the 
record  in  Deeds,  volume  20,  page  550,  in  the  office  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  found  in  Assembly  Papers,  volume  8,  pages  735- 
45,  which  was  filed  with  the  Legislature  in  connection  with  peti- 
tions dated  January,  181 1,  in  Assembly  Papers,  volume  36,  pages 
446-47  and  460-70,  presented  by  persons  living  on  the  upper 
part  of  the  Philipse  patent,  in  Dutchess  County,  in  which  peti- 
tions they  set  forth  that  John  Jacob  Astor  claims  to  hold  the  title 
to  their  lands,  by  virtue  of  the  above-mentioned  indenture  exe- 
cuted before  the  marriage  between  Mary  Phillips  and  Major 
Roger  Morris,  by  which  the  lands  in  question  were  conveyed  to 
the  use  of  the  said  Mary  Phillips  and  Roger  Morris  for  their  lives, 
with  the  remainder  in  fee  simple  to  their  children,  from  whom 
the  said  John  Jacob  Astor  obtained  a  deed,  and  pray  that  if  upon 
investigation  the  claims  of  the  said  Astor  prove  founded,  the 
State  may  take  steps  to  extinguish  his  claims  and  give  them  a 
perfect  title. 

(Signed)  A.  J.  F.  van  Lear, 

Archivist. 

Albany,  N.Y.,  April  28,  1909. 


Index 


Index 

IT 


Adams,  Hannah,  first  tells  story  of  Nathan  Hale 
in  her  History  of  New  England,  in  1 799,  56;  her 
character,  63. 

Adams,  John  and  Abigail,  guests  of  Washington, 
at  Morris  house,  136. 

Adams,  Sarah,  her  word-picture  of  Washington, 

Aglai,  Mademoiselle,  presents  her  compliments  to 
Madame  Jumel  and  will  bring  the  bonnets  and 
fishus,  162. 

Agrilly,  Baron  and  Baroness,  friends  of  the 
Jumels,  i6i. 

Albany  County,  description  of,  104. 

Albany  Post- Road,  an  old  king's  highway,  12. 

Allen,  Paul,  author  of  History  of  the  Revolution 
(1822),  makes  no  mention  of  Nathan  Hale,  58. 

Allen,  Samuel,  Betsy  Bowen  living  at  house  of, 
140. 

Alzac,  M.  le  Comte  d',  acquaintance  of  Madame 
Jumel,  155. 

American  Archives,  published  by  Peter  Force,  25; 
Major  Rook's  account  of  the  great  fire  omitted 
from,  47;  frequently  reveals  inaccuracy  of  his- 
tory, 55;  only  a  garbled  account  of  the  fire 
appears  in,  64. 

American  Bible  Society,  the,  a  beneficiary  under 
Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

Andre,  Major,  comparison  with  Nathan  Hale,  57; 
successor  to  Kemble  on  Sir  Henry  Clinton's 
stafiF,  129;  painted  scenery  for  the  Theater 
Royal,  134. 

Andros,  Governor,  mention  of,  3. 

Angel,  Lemuel,  at  eighty-nine  a  witness  for  George 
Washington  Bowen,  219. 

Angel,  Solomon,  Polly  Bowen  died  at  house  of, 
145. 

Angell,  James,  at  eighty-seven  a  witness  for 
George  Washington  Bowen,  219. 

Apthorp,  Charles  Ward,  of  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil, 18;  his  house  occupied  by  General  Howe,  31. 

Association  for  the  Relief  of  Respectable,  Aged, 
Indigent  Females  in  the  City  of  New  York,  one 
of  the  beneficiaries  named  in  Madame  Jumel's 
will,  204. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  his  transaction  with  the 
Philipse  and  Morris  families  explained,   1 1 2; 


sold  the  property  to  the  State  of  New  York, 
135;  mentioned  in  Assembly  papers,  242. 

Augsbourg  Prints,  "Representation  du  Feu  Ter- 
rible a  Nouvelle  Yorck"  and  "La  Destruction 
de  la  Statue  Royale  a  Nouvelle  Yorck,"  54. 

Axtell,  William,  of  the  Council,  18. 

B k,  Mr.  Edwin,  his  story  of  Madame  Jumel 

entering  church,  175. 

Babcock,  Colonel,  his  report  to  Governor  Cooke, 
26. 

Babcock,  S.,  author  of  a  Memoir  of  Captain 
Nathan  Hale  (1844),  61. 

Backhus,  Major,  of  the  Connecticut  cavalry,  102; 
comes  to  General  Washington  with  a  letter  of 

■    introduction  from  Governor  Trumbull,  103. 

Bailey,  Mr.,  who  did  the  plumbing  in  the  Jumel 
Mansion,  179;  died  in  1812,  188;  is  received  by 
Madame  Jumel  in  the  French  style,  196. 

Balconies  used  for  sentry  boxes,  fable  of,  199. 

Ballou,  Freelove,  wife  of  Reuben,  142;  known  as 
"Old  Mother  Ballou,"  143;  informed  George 
Washington  Bowen  who  was  his  mother,  215. 

Ballou,  Lavinia,  daughter  of  Phebe  Kelley  Bowen, 
and  half-sister  of  Madame  Jumel,  141;  after- 
wards Mrs.  James  G.  Jones,  159;  barred  from 
inheriting  from  Madame  Jumel  on  account  of 
illegitimacy,  205. 

Ballou,  Major  Reuben,  a  butcher  by  trade,  142; 
George  Washington  Bowen  born  at  the  house 
of,  213 ;  put  forward  in  the  trial  as  the  father  of 
George  Washington  Bowen,  216. 

Barron,  Mr.  Thomas,  painted  scenery  with  Andre 
and  De  Lancey,  134. 

Bauermeister,  Major  C.  L.,  his  letter  from  camp 
near  "Helgatte,"  89. 

Baxter,  Colonel,  his  position  at  the  capture  of 
Fort  Washington,  115. 

Beall,  General  Rezin,  president  of  court  martial, 
96. 

Beaumont,  Dr.,  Surgeon-General  of  the  British 
Army,  manager  of  the  theater  in  John  Street, 

133- 
Beckett,  Lieutenant,  120. 
Beckwith,  Freeman,  at  eighty-eight,  a  witness  for 

George  Washington  Bowen,  219. 


246 


Index 


Bedford,      Colonel      Gunning,      Mustermaster- 

General  on  Washington's  staff,  34. 
Benson,  John,  his  land  adjoining  Morris  farm, 

234. 
Berrian,  John,  half  owner  of  the  Morris  farm,  in 

1784,  134. 
Berrian,  Peter,  surveyor,  mentioned  in  Carrol 

deed,  234. 
Berry,  Madame  la  Duchesse  de,  a  social  acquaint- 
ance of  Madame  Jumel,  154. 
Blagg,  John,  post-riders  meet  at  house  of,  108.  _ 
Bleecker,  Anthony  L.,  his  description  of  Morris 

house  when  offering  it  for  sale  in  1792,  9;  his 

original  purchase,  134. 
Bloomingdale,  British  front  at  battle  of  Harlem, 

29;  guarding  against  approach  of  enemy  from 

heights  of,  41. 
Bonaparte,  Joseph,  a  letter  from,  160;  a  family 

tradition  concerning,  161;  remains  of  a  banquet 

to,  177,  187;  description  of  the  banquet  table. 

195-  ... 

Bonaparte,  Louis  Napoleon,  his  visit  to  America, 

201. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  said  to  have  given  his 
carriage  to  the  Jumels,  1 54. 

Boston  AthenEum  portrait  by  Stuart  the  ac- 
cepted portrait  of  Washington,  39. 

Boston  Independent  Chronicle,  extract  from,  66. 

Botta,  Charles,  author  of  American  Revolution 
(Italian),  makes  no  mention  of  Hale,  58. 

Bowen,  Betsy,  first  mention  of,  vi;  daughter  of 
John  Bowen  and  Phebe  Kelley,  138;  born  in 
I77S>  139;  'f'  '7^7  living  with  Samuel  Allen, 
140;  the  handsomest  girl  in  Providence,  143; 
brought  to  bed  of  a  son,  144;  leaves  Providence, 
14s;  her  life  shrouded  in  mystery,  147;  probably 
a  portion  of  it  spent  in  Paris,  148;  claim  that 
she  had  been  the  mistress  of  a  sea  captain,  149; 
marries  Stephen  Jumel,  1 51.  See  also  Jumel, 
Madame,  and  Burr,  Madame  Aaron. 

Bowen,  George  Washington,  for  ninety  years  a 
resident  of  Providence,  144;  born  of  Eliza 
Bowen,  October  9,  1794,  145;  most  important 
suit  against  the  heirs  brought  by,  206;  his  early 
years,  213;  in  business,  214;  his  resemblance  to 
Washington,  214;  his  case  in  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  215;  his  tall  figure  in  the  court- 
room, 216;  was  seventy-eight  at  the  time  of  the 
trial,  218;  record  of  his  birth  in  the  King  Henry 
Book,  220;  lost  his  case,  221;  his  death,  222. 

Bowen,  John,  father  of  Betsy,  138;  a  foreigner 
and  seafaring  man,  139;  drowned  in  the  harbor 
of  Providence,  140. 

Bowen,  John  Thomas,  half-brother  of  Madame 
Jumel,  139;  in  1787  apprenticed  to  Asa  Hop- 
kins, 140. 

Bowen,  Polly,  sister  of  Madame  Jumel,  born  in 
1773,  139;  living  at  Henry  Wyatts,  140;  death 
of,  145. 


Bowen  vs.  Chase,  the  famous  trial,  149;  tried  in 
United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the  Southern 
District,  of  the  State  of  New  York,  215;  verdict 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  ren- 
dered against  the  plaintiff  in  1 879,  221;  litiga- 
tion lasted  thirteen  years,  222. 

Bowles,  Margaret,  or  Margaret  Fairchild,  keeper 
of  the  "Old  Gaol  House"  in  Providence,  139. 

Bownes,  Mary  Jumel,  adopted  by  the  Jumels, 
1 53 ;  in  Miss  Laurau's  school,  writes  to  Madame 
Jumel,  156;  writes  again,  157;  had  returned  to 
the  mansion,  159;  the  title  to  the  Jumel  prop- 
erty in  the  name  of,  168;  all  transfers  to,  fraudu- 
lent and  void,  211. 

Bradbrook,  Edwin,  his  story  of  the  military  com- 
pany, 181. 

Bradden,  Captain  of  the  Fifteenth  Foot,  one  of 
the  actors  at  the  Theater  Royal,  134. 

Braddock,  General,  mention  of,  13. 

Break  Neck  Hill,  mention  of,  4;  alarm  guns  to  be 
fired  from,  71;  troops  in  line  before  day  listen- 
ing for  guns  from,  74;  mentioned  in  marriage 
settlement  of  Mary  Philipse,  239. 

Bridge  of  boats  on  Harlem  River,  77;  anchors  and 
cables  sent  for  to  moor,  77. 

Brigade-Majors,  reported  to  Adjutant-General  at 
twelve  o'clock,  36;  had  standing  invitation  to 
dinner  from  General  Washington,  36. 

"British  Head  Quarters  Military  Map,"  shows 
grounds  about  Morris  house,  127. 

British  Order  Book,  extract  from,  66. 

Broad  Street  one  limit  of  the  great  fire  in  New 
York  City,  46. 

Broadway,  the,  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
great  fire,  46. 

Bronx,  the,  mention  of,  40;  mouth  of,  84;  Colonel 
Putnam  crosses  the  "Brunx,"  86. 

Brown,  Eliza,  a  convenient  name  to  separate 
Betsy  Bowen  from  her  career  in  Providence, 
149. 

Brown,  Governor,  Montfort  mentioned  for  ex- 
change, 52;  at  the  Morris  house  to  be  exchanged 
for  General  Stirling,  74. 

Brown,  Richard,  taken  in  the  act  of  promoting  . 
the  fire  in  New  York  City,  and  executed,  45. 

Brune,  La,  two  sailors  from,  67;  anchored  in 
"Helgatte,"  89. 

Buckwheat  field,  mention  of,  29. 

Building  the  house  for  the  bride  in  1758,  the 
fable  of,  199. 

Burke,  Edmund,  extract  from  speech  in  House  of 
Commons,  53. 

Burr,  Aaron,  mention  of,  vi;  an  old  man  of  sev- 
enty-eight, he  marries  Madame  Jumel,  172; 
divorce  of,  173;  one  of  the  imaginary  guests  of 
Madame  Jumel,  187. 

Burr,  Madame  Aaron,  147;  chapter  on,  170;  her 
marriage  to  Burr,  172;  divorced  from,  but 
travels  under  name  of,  173;  travels  in  Europe 


Index 


^47 


as  Mrs.   Aaron   Burr,    177.    See  also  Bovven, 

Betsy,  and  Jumel,  Madame. 
Burr,    George,    schoolmate   of   and   witness   for 

George  Washington  Bowen,  218. 
Bushnell,   Mr.,  his  contrivance  for  blowing  up 

ships,  78. 
Bussing,  Arent,  named  in  Carol  deed,  234. 

Cadwalader,  Colonel  Lambert,  in  command  of 

right  of  line  in  defense  of  Fort  Washington,  1 1  J. 
Calumet  Hall,  Morris  house  in  1787,  135. 
Campbell,  Mrs.  Mariah,  daughter  of,  and  author 

of  a  life  of  General  Hull,  61. 
Canvass-town,  in  the  burnt  district  of  New  York 

City,  133. 
Carmansville,  Madame  Jumel  drives  through,  1 78. 
Carrol,  James,  buys  the  farm  from  the  Dyckmans, 

2;  advertises  it  for  sale,  3;  mentioned  in  deed, 

233.  235.  236. 

Carrol  deed,  233. 

Carroll,  William  Henry,  coachman  for  Madame 
Jumel  in  1839,  176. 

Carter,  James  C,  undertook  defense  of  Chase 
heirs  without  retainer,  211;  his  fee,  212. 

Cary,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Richard,  made  aide-de- 
camp on  Washington's  staff,  33. 

Cayugas,  two  sachems  of,  arrived  at  Washing- 
ton's headquarters,  78;  the  fable  about,  199; 
letters  of  General  VVashington  and  Schuyler, 
referring  to,  200. 

"Cedars,"  the,  a  tavern  mentioned  by  Hemp- 
stead as  within  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Hale's 
quarters,  59;  a  place  called  "The  Cedars"  near 
Huntington,  Long  Island,  61. 

Cerberus,  British  ship,  a  boat  from  which  is 
claimed  to  have  captured  Nathan  Hale,  61. 

Charlotte  County,  New  York,  description  of,  103. 

Charot,  Madame  la  Duchesse  de,  social  acquaint- 
ance of  Madame  Jumel,  154. 

Chase,  Eliza  Jumel,  daughter  of  Nelson  Chase, 

177- 

Chase,  Nelson,  husband  of  Mary,  niece  of  Ma- 
dame Jumel,  171;  brought  his  wife  to  New 
York,  176;  moved  to  Hoboken,  177;  back  in  the 
Mansion  with  Madame  Jumel,  177;  one  of  the 
heirs  living  in  the  house,  203 ;  borrows  $45,000 
to  buy  off  the  claim  of  the  Jumel  Joneses,  and 
for  pin  money,  206;  a  family  by  himself,  208. 

Chase,  William  Inglis,  son  of  Nelson  Chase,  177; 
throws  the  inkstand  at  the  family  portrait,  185; 
not  named  in  Madame  Jumel's  will,  204;  occu- 
pied rooms  above  the  great  parlor,  208;  black 
patch  over  head  of,  in  great  portrait,  211. 

Chattillon,  the  Duchess  of ,  nee  Chattillon, 

sends  her  regrets,  declining  Madame  Jumel's 
invitation  to  dine,  162. 

Chew,  Joseph,  a  guest  at  Beverly  Robinson's,  13; 
writes  a  letter  to  Washington,  14;  sends  a  post- 
script in  letter  of  Beverly  Robinson,  15. 


Chichester,  Mother,  keeper  of  a  tavern  near 
Huntington,  Long  Island,  61. 

Chintz,  curious  piece  of,  described,  37. 

Church,  Benjamin  S.,  his  story  of  the  city  fence, 
179- 

Church  of  the  Intercession,  187;  a  beneficiary  un- 
der Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

Church  parade,  in  stable  near  Morris  house, 
March  25,  April  I,  June  7,  1781,  131. 

City  Hall,  New  York,  great  fire  almost  reached, 
.46. 

City  Tavern,  comes  into  its  own  again,  133. 

Clarke,  Jonathan,  second  husband  of  Phebe 
Kelley,  141;  living  on  the  Old  Warren  Road, 
142;  death  of,  146. 

Clarke,  Polly,  stepsister  of  Madame  Jumel,  142; 
her  children  named  as  the  only  legitimate  heirs 
of  Madame  Jumel,  204;  bought  off  for  $40,000, 
205. 

Clarkson,  General,  and  some  others  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Jumels,  kept  their  carriages,  150. 

Classic  period,  dawn  of,  109. 

Clinton,  Brigadier-General  George,  reports  battle 
of  Harlem  Heights  to  the  New  York  Conven- 
tion, 31;  in  General  Heath's  division,  40;  re- 
ports ships  run  ashore  near  Colonel  Philipse's, 
80. 

Clinton,  Mrs.  Hannah,  rented  the  mansion,  in 
summer  of  1826,  170. 

Clinton,  Lieutenant-General  Sir  Henry,  head- 
quarters at  Morris  house,  vi;  encamped  near 
seventh  and  eighth  milestones,  31;  arrives  at 
Morris  house,  128;  captures  Forts  Montgomery 
and  Clinton,  129. 

Clinton,  Julia,  name  on  the  pane  of  glass  at  side 
of  door  of  Jumel  Mansion  (1826),  170. 

Clinton,  Mary  C,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Hannah 
Clinton,  in  the  mansion  (1826),  170. 

Colden,  Lieutenant-Governor  Cadwallader, 
burned  in  effigy,  18;  writes  to  Lord  North,  20. 

Collins,  John,  waited  on  General  Washington,  26. 

Congress,  Washington  reports  to,  27;  Secretary 
Harrison's  apology  to,  29;  forbids  Washington 
to  burn  the  city  of  New  York,  43;  committee 
from,  on  the  conduct  of  the  war,  69;  committee 
from,  in  session  at  the  Morris  house,  70; 
committee  came  in  during  the  dinner  to  the 
Connecticut  colonels,  74;  laid  a  heavy  hand  on 
frivolity  in  the  towns,  133. 

Congressional  Library,  contains  official  record  of 
a  famous  case,  vi. 

Convention  of  the  State  of  New  York,  first  men- 
tion of,  29;  post-rider  to,  at  Fishkill,  daily  from 
headquarters,  35;  chapter  on,  102;  members  of, 
104;  its  trials,  105;  resolutions  on  post-riders, 
108;  orders  church  bells  and  brass  door-knock- 
ers sent  to  New  Ark,  no;  required  all  citizens 
who  were  prisoners  to  take  oath  of  allegiance, 
III. 


248 


Index 


Cooke,  Nicholas,  Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  26, 
29. 

Council  of  war,  at  or  near  King's  Bridge,  82;  pro- 
ceedings of  another  at  General  Lee's  head- 
quarters, 83. 

Courts  Martial,  assembled  in  the  great  parlor  at 
nine  o'clock,  3  5 ;  chapter  on,  95 ;  trial  of  William 
Higgins,  96;  trial  of  Sergeant  George  Douglas, 
97;  trial  of  Ensign  Mathew  Macumber,  99;  trial 
of  Lieutenant  Pope,  100. 

Crippin,  Judge,  Nelson  Chase  studied  law  with, 
171. 

Cronks,  Hercules,  New  York  post-office  at  the 
house  of,  107. 

Cruger,  John  Harris,  member  of  the  Legislative 
Council  of  New  York,  19. 

Cumberland  County,  New  York,  now  State  of 
Vermont,  104. 

Curret,  Joseph,  agent  of  Joseph  Bonaparte,  187. 

Curwen,  Samuel,  his  letter  to  Mr.  George  Russell, 

S3- 
Cypress  trees,  the  fable  of,  202. 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  preserv- 
ing the  headquarters,  224;  four  chapters  of, 
incorporated  under  the  title,  "Washington 
Headquarters  Association,  founded  by  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution,"  225. 

De  la  Croix,  Captain,  probably  the  master  of  a 
ship,  147. 

De  la  Croix,  Madame,  one  of  Madame  Jumel's 
five  names,  147;  her  portrait  painted  by  Saint- 
Memin,  147. 

Delacroix,  Jacques,  the  proprietor  of  the  Vauxhall 
Gardens,  147. 

Delacroix,  Madame  Marie,  to  whom  the  Saint- 
Memin  portrait  was  attributed,  147;  said  to  have 
introduced  ice  cream  into  New  York,  148. 

De  Lancey,  Oliver,  a  member  of  the  Legislative 
Council  of  New  York,  18. 

De  Lancey,  Captain  Oliver,  of  the  Seventeenth 
Dragoons,  with  Major  Andre  painted  scenery 
for  the  Theater  Royal,  133. 

De  Witt,  Captain,  discharged  James  McCormick 
from  the  guard  house,  75. 

Dickens,  Charles,  may  have  got  his  idea  of  Miss 
Havisham  from  Madame  Jumel,  195. 

Dobbs  Ferry,  country  seat  of  Beverly  Robinson, 
17;  the  Phoenix  and  Roebuck  run  aground  at,  78. 

Douglas,  Sergeant  George,  trial  of,  97. 

Douglas,  Colonel  William,  General  Washington's 
invitation  to,  73. 

Drake,  Lieutenant  Henry,  tried  for  absence  with- 
out leave,  70. 

Duer,  William,  Secretary  of  the  New  York 
Convention,  55. 

Dunlap,  William,  his  picture  of  a  Hessian  soldier, 
132;  his  description  of  New  York  City  during 
the  Revolution,  133. 


Dyckman,  Catalyntie,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233, 

236. 
Dyckman,  Garrit,  named  in  Carrol  deed,  234. 
Dyckman,  Jacob,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  234, 

236. 
Dyckman,  Jacob,  Jr.,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  236. 
Dyckman,  Jannetje,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  236. 
Dyckman,  John,  named  in  Carrol  deed,  234. 
Dyckman,  Mary,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  236. 
Dyckman,  Sampson,  the  messenger  of  the  New 

York  Convention,  109. 
Dyckman,  William,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236. 

Earle,  General  Ferdinand  P.,  bought  Jumel 
Mansion  from  Seth  Milliken,  in  1894,  224. 

Edmonds,  Judge,  informed  George  Washington 
Bowen  that  an  illegitimate  son  might  inherit, 
215. 

Eliza,  the.  Monsieur  Jumel's  bark,  150;  the  family 
sails  for  France  in,  153. 

Ellery,  William,  his  letter  to  Governor  Cooke,  76. 

Ercole,  Alcide,  painter  of  the  Jumel  family  group, 
i78;>portrait  by,  passed  by  courtesy  by  ap- 
praisers, 207. 

Evening  Post,  the  notice  of  marriage  of  Aaron 
Burr  and  Madame  Jumel  in,  172. 

Ewing,  Colonel  Thomas,  to  the  Maryland  Com- 
mittee of  Safety,  29;  sittings  of  the  court  mar- 
tial of  which  he  was  president,  96. 

Fancy,  the.  Colonel  Morris's  sloop-rigged  yacht,  3. 

Fellows,  General,  disgraceful  behavior  of  his 
Connecticut  Brigade,  28. 

Ferry  House  Tavern,  kept  by  Mr.  Marriner  on 
Harlem  Lane,  136. 

Field,  Franklin  Clinton,  bom  in  the  Mansion 
(1825),  170. 

Field,  Moses,  rented  Mansion  in  summer  of  1825, 
170. 

"  Fighting  Cocks,"  old  tavern  on  Broadway  where 
Judge  Henry  lodged,  49. 

Fire  in  New  York  City  (1776),  Colonel  Morris's 
city  house  burned,  15;  a  forgotten  event,  24; 
watched  by  officers  from  the  Morris  house,  41 ; 
General  Greene  writes  to  Washington  urging 
the  burning  of  the  city,  41 ;  Washington  is  or- 
dered by  Congress  not  to  harm  it,  42;  letters 
from  British  officers  fearing  fire,  43;  report  of 
three  persons  who  escaped  from  the  city  in  a 
canoe,  44;  extract  from  St.  James  Gazette,  44; 
account  of,  in  Gaine's  Mercury  by  Major  Rook, 
45;  most  important  accounts  of,  omitted  from 
Force's  American  Archives,  47. 

Fishkill,  seat  of  the  New  York  Convention,  104; 
meetings  of  Convention  held  in  Episcopal 
Church  at,  104. 

Flag,  the  American,  the  Union  Jack  and  thirteen 
stripes,  37;  some  account  of  its  origin,  37;  the 
thirteen  stars  on  the  piece  of  chintz,  38. 


Index 


249 


Flick's  Loyalism  in  America,  gives  figures  of 
estate  of  Roger  Morris,  112. 

Force,  Peter,  publisher  of  American  Archives,  25. 

Ford,  Worthington  C,  his  copy  of  Washington's 
letter  to  Mrs.  Philipse,  93. 

Fort  Clinton,  captured  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  129. 

Fort  Knyphausen,  new  name  for  Fort  Washing- 
ton, 125;  signal  from  Morris  house  to  show 
attack  on,  132. 

Fort  Lee,  site  of,  bore  chiefly  wild  onions,  71; 
Washington  at,  1 14. 

Fort  Montgomery,  captured  by  Sir  Henry  Clin- 
ton, 129. 

Fort  Washington,  11,  23,  27;  British  vessels  pass, 
78;  decided  to  retain,  83;  work  on,  guarded 
from  observation,  88;  Graydon's  story  of  cap- 
ture of,  114;  Colonel  Magaw  in  command  of, 
I  IS;  surrender  of,  II9;  Ichabod  Perry's  descrip- 
tion of  capture  of,  124;  renamed  Fort  Knyp- 
hausen, 125. 

Fountain,  Anthony  B.,  described  the  Jumel 
carriage,  150. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  curious  pattern  on  chintz 
inspired  by,  37;  possibly  the  first  to  suggest  the 
stars  on  the  American  flag,  38;  Postmaster- 
General,  105. 

Fraunces's  Tavern,  Washington's  little  army  on 
way  to,  from  Newburgh,  39. 

Freeman,  Elizabeth,  colored  woman  who  had 
been  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Chauncey  Shaffer, 
216;  in  charge  of  house  in  Circular  Street,  Sara- 
toga, 217;  visits  Nelson  Chase  at  the  American 
Hotel,  Saratoga,  217;  is  evicted  from  the  house 
in  Circular  Street,  218;  secures  the  lithograph 
portraits  of  Madame  Jumel  for  use  at  the  trial 
in  litigation  after  Madame  Jumel's  death,  218. 
French  heirs,  the,  were  allowed  one  undivided 

sixth  part  of  the  Jumel  estate,  211. 
Frog's  Neck,  mention  of,  40;  cordwood  breast- 
work, commanding,  77;  four  thousand  troops 
land  on,  82. 

Gage,  General,  mention  of,  45. 

Gaine,  Hugh,  at  the  sign  of  the  Bible  and  Crown 
sold  tickets  for  the  Theater  Royal,  134. 

Gaine's  Mercury,  extract  from,  2,  17,  18;  extract 
from,  describing  the  great  fire  in  New  York 
City,  45. 

General  Orders,  published  at  six  o'clock  guard 
mounting,  36;  passage  from,  75. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  member  of  Congressional  Com- 
mittee on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  69. 

Gibbs-Channing-Avery  portrait  of  Washington 
by  Stuart,  39. 

Glover,  Colonel,  at  Pell's  Point,  86. 

Golden  Ball  Inn,  the,  on  Benefit  Street,  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island,  where  Washington  and 
Lafayette  were  entertained,  143;  Madame 
Jumel  stopped  at,  148. 


Governor's  Island,  26;  information  from,  as  to 
range  of  cannon,  90. 

Grant's  Tomb,  mention  of,  40. 

Graydon,  Captain  Alexander,  first  mention  of, 
as  member  of  court  martial,  96;  his  story  of  the 
capture  of  Fort  Washington,  114;  "began  to 
retire  in  good  order,"  115;  surrenders,  116;  is 
marched  to  an  old  stable,  117;  is  removed  to 
Colonel  Morris's  barn,  118;  is  invited  to  break- 
fast, 120. 

Grayson,  Colonel  William,  Aide-de-Camp  on 
Washington's  staff,  33;  letter  to  General 
Heath,  75. 

Greene,  General  Nathanael,  the  most  conspicuous 
advocate  of  burning  New  York  City,  25;  writes 
a  letter  to  General  Washington  advising  burn- 
ing, 41 ;  visits  Washington  at  new  headquarters 
near  King's  Bridge,  85;  crosses  with  Washing- 
ton to  Morris  house,  121. 

Griffith,  Colonel,  at  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  30. 

Hackett,  Major,  Mrs.  Montresor  dines  with,  at 
Scotch  Johnny's,  16. 

Hale,  Nathan,  capture,  45;  letter  from  Harlem, 
55;  his  story  first  given  to  the  public  in  her 
History  of  New  England,  by  Hannah  Adams,  56; 
text  of  General  Hull's  story,  56;  his  last  words, 
57;  many  fables  of,  58;  statement  of  Stephen 
Hempstead,  59;  beginning  of  period  of  ro- 
mance, 60;  particulars  of  his  execution,  6i; 
stories  of,  compared,  62;  mention  of  in  the 
British  Order  Book,  66;  and  in  the  Boston 
Independent  Chronicle,  66;  Life,  by  I.  W. 
Stewart,  v. 

Hall,  Talmage,  innkeeper  and  stage-proprietor, 
135;  meets  with  financial  disaster,  136. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  Captain  of  Artillery,  61; 
guest  of  Washington  at  Morris  house  dinner, 
136;  probably  notknown  to  Madamejumel,  173. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  Jr.,  counsel  to  Madame 
Jumel,  167. 

Hancock,  John,  signs  letter  to  Washington  as 
President  of  Congress,  43;  his  name  signed  to 
commission  of  Richard  Brown,  who  was  exe- 
cuted for  setting  fire  to  New  York  City,  45. 

Hanson,  Alexander  Contee,  Assistant  Secretary 
to  General  Washington,  35. 

Harlem,  27;  extract  of  a  letter  from,  55;  foray  to 
secure  forage  lying  near,  75;  William  Ellery's 
account  of  affair  near,  76. 

Harlem  Heights,  mention  of,  12,  26,  27;  troops 
went  into  camp  on,  29;  sometimes  called 
King's  Bridge,  129. 

Harlem  Heights,  battle  of,  mention  of,  28,  29; 
Washington's  report  to  Congress  on,  30;  Gen- 
eral Clinton's  account  of,  31 ;  conflicting  orders, 
at,  34;  conditions  after,  40. 

Harper,  Robert,  "D.  Secretary,"  mentioned  in 
marriage  settlement  of  Mary  Philipse,  242. 


250 


Index 


Harriet  Packet,  the,  Colonel  Morris  and  John 
Watts  sail  for  England  on,  20. 

Harrison,  Robert  H.,  apology  to  Congress,  30; 
Lieutenant-Colonel  and  Military  Secretary  on 
Washington's  staff,  34. 

Hautpoul,  Countess  of,  applies  to  Madame 
Jumel  in  the  interest  of  the  wife  of  the  Court 
Saddler,  161. 

Haven,  John  Appleton,  and  party  of  young  girls 
visit  Madame  Jumel,  188. 

Hazzard,  Ebenezer,  postmaster  of  New  York,  at 
headquarters,  35;  ordered  to  remove  his  office 
to  Dobb's  Ferry,  105;  letters  from,  106;  joined 
General  Washington  at  headquarters,  107. 

Headquarters,  of  Washington,  at  Morris  house, 
27;  activities  of  a  day  at,  35;  letters  from,  38; 
Colonel  Reed  rode  from,  to  meet  British  flag, 
SO. 

Heath,  General  William,  officers  of  his  picket 
occupy  Morris  house,  24;  holds  command  of 
country  east  of  the  Harlem  River,  40;  camp 
inspected  by  General  Washington,  41;  plans 
expedition  to  Montresor's  Island,  67;  observed 
the  attack  from  river-side,  68;  reconnoitered 
his  lines  in  the  direction  of  Frog's  Neck,  76; 
account  of  Mr.  Bushnell's  machine  for  sinking 
ships,  78;  extract  from  Memoirs,  79,  89;  in 
command  at  Pell's  Point,  84;  his  great  picket, 
90;  sends  seven  troopers  to  headquarters,  102. 

Hell  Gate,  26;  wind  unfavorable  to  pass,  82;  La 
Brune  and  Niger  anchored  before,  8g. 

Hempstead,  Stephen,  his  story  of  the  movements 
of  Hale  in  the  St.  Louis  Republican,  59;  his 
claim  that  Hale  was  captured  outside  the  burn- 
ing city,  64;  says  he  had  nearly  executed  his 
mission,  66. 

Henly,  Major  David,  the  funeral  of  Major 
Thomas  Healy  held  at  quarters  of,  69. 

Henly,  Major  Thomas,  volunteers  for  expedition 
to  Montresor's  Island,  67;  his  death,  68;  brief 
account  of,  69. 

Henry,  Judge  John  Joseph,  another  account  of 
the  fire  from  the  pen  of,  48. 

Hessian  Riflemen,  under  General  Leslie  at  Har- 
lem Heights,  31. 

Higgins,  William,  trial  by  court  martial,  97. 

Hobart,  John  Sloss,  finds  Washington  crowded 
with  business,  69;  delegate  to  Convention  from 
Suffolk  County,  103;  (Hobard)  one  of  the  wit- 
nesses of  the  marriage  settlement  of  Mary 
Philipse,  241,  242. 

Hollow  Way,  now  spanned  by  the  iron  viaduct,  40. 

Hone,  Philip,  extract  from  diary  of,  172. 

Hopkins,  Asa,  John  Thomas  Bowen  apprenticed 
to,  140. 

Hopkins,  Theodore,  part  owner  of  Morris  house 
and  farm,  in  1791,  34. 

Horn's  Hook,  General  Washington  receives  a  let- 
ter from,  before  leaving  New  York,  27. 


Horsmanden,  Daniel,  Chief  Justice  and  member 
of  the  New  York  Council,  18. 

Horton,  Captain,  of  Boston,  fired  the  shot  that 
killed  three  of  the  crew  on  General  Washing- 
ton's barge,  81. 

Hotel  de  Berteuil,  Rue  de  Rivoli,  No.  22,  first 
home  of  the  Jumels  in  Paris,  154. 

Howe,  Lord,  his  cooperation  with  General  Rob- 
ertson to  put  out  the  fire  in  New  York  City,  46. 

Howe,  General  Sir  William,  25;  quarters  at  Mr. 
Apthorp's  house,  31;  conclusion  of  letter  to 
General  Washington,  52;  orders  execution  of 
Nathan  Hale,  57;  making  plans  to  capture  the 
army  on  Harlem  Heights,  74;  back  in  his  quar- 
ters at  De  Lancey's  Mill,  125. 

Hull,  David,  son  of  the  kind-hearted  baker,  142; 
meets  George  Washington  Bowen,  144;  saw  the 
girls,  Betsy  Bowen  and  Lavinia  Ballou  board 
the  packet  at  Providence,  145;  in  the  crowd 
before  the  Golden  Ball  Inn,  149;  at  the  time  of 
the  trial  was  eighty-five,  219;  great  effort  to 
break  down  evidence  of,  219. 

Hull,  General  William,  Hannah  Adams  indebted 
to  for  account  of  Nathan  Hale,  56;  his  state- 
ment cunningly  worded  to  mislead,  58;  portion 
of  manuscript  left  by,  61;  comparison  of  his 
statements  with  those  of  Hempstead,  61;  his 
character,  63;  his  statement  containing  path- 
etic apologies,  66. 

Huntington,  Nathan  Hale  crossed  the  sound, 
16,45.  ,    , 

Hyer,  Tom,  came  each  summer  to  one  of  the 
Harlem  roadhouses,  183. 

Ingraham,  Jane,  discharged  from  the  Providence 
Workhouse  (1785),  140. 

Ingraham,  Patience,  arraigned  with  Phebe 
Bowen,  for  keeping  a  disorderly  house,  140. 

Ingraham,  Sally,  discharged  from  the  Providence 
Workhouse  to  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Oliver,  140. 

Ingraham,  Susannah,  discharged  from  the  Provi- 
dence Workhouse  to  Mrs.  Wm.  Soule,  140. 

J.,  Mrs.  E.  W.,  describes  Madame  Jumel  on  her 

deathbed,  197. 
Jackson,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Michael,  commands 

expedition  to  Montresor's  Island,  67;  wounded, 

68. 
James,  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,  mention  of,  3. 
Jenks,  farmer  in  Cumberland  with  whom  George 

Washington  Bowen  lived  as  a  boy,  213. 
Joannes,  George,  the  Count,  attorney  for  Stephen 

Jumel   Jones,   and   an   attendant  on  Nelson 

Chase,  206. 
Jochem  Pieters  Hills,  1. 
Jones,  Stephen  Jumel,  son  of  Polly  Clarke,  named 

by  the  Court  as  one  of  the  heirs  of  Madame 

Jumel,  204;  brought  several  suits  to  set  aside 

the  quitclaim  deeds,  206. 


Index 


2-51 


Jones,  William  B.,  an  administrator  of  the  estate  of 
Madame  Jumel,  and  a  claimant  as  a  nephew,  204. 

Journal  of  a  Pennsylvania  soldier,  extract  from, 
121. 

Joy,  Michael,  part  owner  of  Morris  house  and 
farm,  in  1791,  134. 

Judson,  Judge  Andrew  T.,  delivered  address 
before  the  Hale  Monument  Association  of 
Coventry,  Conn.,  60. 

Jumel,  Madame,  story  of,  mostly  fantastic  imag- 
inings, vi;  born  in  1775,  140;  lived  under  five 
names,  147;  went  to  Providence  to  attend  a 
funeral,  148;  her  carriage,  150;  marries  Stephen 
Jumel,  151;  was  a  disappointed  woman,  153;  a 
wonderful  social  triumph,  154;  writes  to  her 
niece  Mary  from  New  York,  156;  looks  up  her 
relatives  in  Christopher  Street,  159;  meets  her 
half-sister  on  the  Bloomingdale  Road,  160;  re- 
turns to  Paris,  161;  she  writes  to  Louis  XVIII, 
163;  arrives  in  New  York  in  May,  1826,  166; 
plans  to  use  power  of  attorney,  167;  robs 
Stephen  Jumel  of  his  fortune,  168;  marries 
'  Aaron  Burr,  172;  is  divorced,  173;  buys  four 
gray  horses,  174;  entering  church,  175;  she  rents 

■  apartments  at  corner  of  Elm  and  Grand  Streets, 
170;  lives  at  various  places,  177;  goes  abroad 
for  the  last  time,  177;  shows  green  liveries  at 
Carmansville,  178;  her  forty-acre  woodlot,  178; 
some  financial  transactions  of,  179;  informs  the 
French  heirs  that  M.  Jumel  left  no  property, 
180;  her  military  company,  181;  Inspector 
Steer's  story  of,  183;  the  afltair  of  the  two  car- 
riages at  Saratoga,  184;  she  drives  the  Chase 
family  from  the  Mansion,  185;  visit  of  the 
Haven  party  to,  188;  personal  appearance  of, 

■  189;  seated  on  her  throne  to  receive  Governor 
Hoffman,  196;  on  her  deathbed,  197;  fables 
about,  198;  her  will,  203;  probably  possessed 
a  small  fortune  in  jewels,  207;  not  a  success  as 
a  matchmaker,  208.  See  also  Bowen,  Betsy, 
and  Burr,  Madame  Aaron. 

Jumel,  M.  Stephen,  one  of  the  richest  merchants 
in  New  York,  149;  his  house,  150;  is  tricked  into 
a  marriage,  151;  buys  the  Roger  Morris  house 
in  1 810,  152;  he  was  rich  enough  to  give  up 
business,  153;  deeds  to  his  wife  property  in  New 
York  and  gives  her  power  of  attorney,  165; 
writes,  "for  the  love  of  God  send  me  money," 
167;  spent  the  winter  in  the  house  that  was  not 
his,  168;  his  death,  169. 

Jumel  Mansion,  bought  by  Stephen  Jumel,  152; 
the  Jumels  leave  for  France,  153;  Madame 
Jumel  returns  to,  155;  Joseph  Bonaparte  de- 
clines to  lease  it,  160;  Stephen  Jumel  presents 
it  to  his  wife,  165;  Madame  Jumel  leaves  it  for 
five  years,  177;  is  sold  to  Mr.  Seth  Milliken, 
224;  is  sold  to  General  Ferdinand  P.  Earle,  224; 
becomes  the  property  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
225.   See  also  Morris  house. 


Jumels,  the,  neglected  by  society,  152;  they  arrive 
in  Paris  just  before  Napoleon  became  a  pris- 
oner, 153;  Napoleon's  carriage  given  to,  154; 
trouble  in  the  family  of,  158. 

Kelley,  John,  maternal  grandfather  of  Madame 
Jumel,  138. 

Kelley,  Phebe,  mother  of  Madame  Jumel,  brought 
before  the  Town  Council  of  Providence,  138; 
marries  John  Bowen,  139;  arraigned  for  keep- 
ing a  disorderly  house,  140;  marries  Jonathan 
Clarke,  141;  in  Providence  jail,  142;  living  on 
the  Old  Warren  Road,  144;  her  death  in  North 
Carolina,  146;  troublesome  descendants  of,  211. 

Kemble,  Major  Stephen,  breakfasts  with  Mrs. 
Philipse  and  Mrs.  Morris,  94;  Adjutant- 
General  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  128. 

Kemble,  William,  remembered  the  Jumel  car- 
riage, 150. 

Kennedy  house,  General  Putnam's  headquarters, 
26;  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton  returns  to,  129; 
the  first  and  last  house  on  Broadway,  132. 

Kenney,  John,  in  stage  operation  with  Talmage 
Hall  and  Isaac  Wyck,  135. 

Kentish  Gazette,  extract  from,  66. 

Kenyon,  William,  bought  the  Morris  house  and 
farm  from  Anthony  L.  Bleecker,  134. 

Khedive  of  Egypt,  the,  one  of  Madame  Jumel's 
imaginary  guests,  187. 

Kiersen,  Jan,  settled  on  site  of  Morris  house,  i; 
mentioned  in  Carrol  deed,  234. 

Kiersen,  Jannetje,  daughter  of  Jan,  I. 

King  Henry  book,  imprinted  at  London  by  John 
Wolfe,  144;  contained  record  of  the  birth  of 
George  Washington  Bowen,  145;  record  is  read 
to  the  jury,  218. 

King's  Bridge,  mention  of,  33;  General  Heath 
encamped  above,  40,  42. 

King's  Bridge  Road,  2,  11,  27;  Washington  rode 
down,  to  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  29,  31;  as 
shown  on  Sauthier's  Map,  125. 

King's  College,  sons  of  the  New  York  colonial 
aristocracy  were  educated  at,  12;  northern 
limit  of  the  great  fire  in  New  York  City,  46;  an 
incendiary  was  seized  about  to  set  fire  to,  47. 

Kipp's  Bay,  retreat  from,  28. 

Kitchen,  old,  of  Morris  house,  description  of,  6. 

Knapp,  Samuel,  author  of  a  lecture  on  Hale 
(1820),  60. 

Knickerbocker,  Harman,  one  of  the  witnesses  of 
the  Carrol  deed,  234. 

Knowles,  Charles,  clerk,  signs,  for  Adjutant- 
General,  a  letter  to  Colonel  Thomas,  84. 

Knowlton,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  place  of  burial 
unknown,  29;  at  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  and 
death  of,  30,  31;  borne  from  the  field  by  Adju- 
tant-General Reed,  32,  34. 

Knox,  Henry  and  Mrs.  Knox,  guests  at  the 
Washington  dinner  at  the  Morris  house,  136. 


^s^ 


Index 


Knyphausen,  Lieutenant-General  Baron  von, 
Fort  Washington  renamed  in  honor  of,  125;  his 
headquarters  at  Morris  house,  130. 

Kortright's  house.  Colonel  Moylan's  lodgings 
near,  35. 

Kortright,  Lawrence,  his  land  adjoining  Morris 
farm,  234. 

Lafayette,  Count,  burst  into  tears  when  shown 
the  bed  in  the  Mansion  on  which  his  great- 
grandfather slept,  200. 

Lafayette,  General,  had  been  entertained  at  the 
Golden  Ball  Inn,  143;  the  fable  about  his  enter- 
tainment by  Madame  Jumel,  200. 

Lear,  Mrs.  Tobias,  guest  of  Washington  at  the 
Morris  house  dinner,  136. 

Ledyard,  Isaac,  half  owner  of  the  Morris  house 
(1784),  134. 

Leffingwell,  Ebenezer,  skulking  to  the  rear,  32; 
found  guilty  of  misbehaving  before  the  enemy 
and  sentenced  to  death,  33;  pardoned  on  the 
field,  33. 

Legislative  Council,  members  of,  18;  Roger  Mor- 
ris ten  years  in,  23. 

Leitch,  Major,  place  of  burial  unknown,  29; 
wounded  at  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  30,  31, 
32;  death  of,  76. 

Le  Roy,  Mr.,  and  General  Clarkson  kept  their 
carriages,  150. 

Leslie,  Brigadier-General,  in  command  of  British 
at  Harlem  Heights,  31. 

Lewis,  Francis,  member  of  the  Congressional 
Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  69. 

Liberty  Boys,  Governor  Colden  burned  in  effigy 
by,  18;  loved  to  burn  the  houses  of  Loyalists, 
19. 

Livingston,  Gilbert,  ordered  to  procure  a  stove 
for  the  New  York  Convention,  105. 

Livingston,  William,  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the 
marriage  settlement  of  Mary  Philipse,  241. 

London  Magazine  (1761),  showing  the  South 
Prospect  of  the  City  of  New  York,  3. 

London  Packet,  story  of  Richard  Brown  published 
in,  45- 

Long  Island,  counties  of  King's  and  Queen's  on, 
10;  since  the  battle  of,  25. 

Loudon,  Lord,  mention  of,  13,  16. 

Low,  John,  his  land  adjoining  Morris  farm,  234. 

Loyaute  de  Loyaute,  Countess,  friend  of  Ma- 
dame Jumel,  161. 

Luby,  William,  stories  of  his  father's  service  at 
the  Mansion,  178. 

Luckey,  George,  as  a  boy  lived  on  Morris  Heights, 
181;  his  story  of  the  military  company,  182; 
was  proud  to  know  Tom  Hyer,  183. 

M Mrs.   M ,   her  story  of  a  visit  to 

Madame  Jumel,  175. 
McCormick,  James,  story  of  his  desertion,  74. 


McCumber,  Mrs.  Colonel,  told  Mrs.  Williams 
that  Madame  Jumel  had  been  in  France,  148. 

McGowan's  Pass,  mention  of,  30,  31;  guarding 
against  the  approach  of  the  enemy  from,  41. 

M'Kesson,  John,  Secretary  of  the  New  York 
Convention,  106. 

Maddox,  Louisa  Jumel,  daughter  of  Polly 
Clarke,  and  named  by  the  Court  as  one  of  the 
heirs  of  Madame  Jumel,  204. 

Magaw,  Colonel  Robert,  president  of  court  mar- 
tial, 96;  in  command  of  Fort  Washington,  iij. 

Maldieu,  Marquise  de,  is  unable  to  accept  dinner 
invitation  of  Madame  Jumel,  162. 

Marriner,  Mr.,  served  the  dinner  given  by  Wash- 
ington at  the  Morris  house,  136. 

Martin,  Philip  W.,  schoolmate  of  and  witness  for 
George  Washington  Bowen,  218. 

Massachusetts  Gazette,  Major  Rook  a  paragraph 
writer  for,  45. 

Mercer,  General  Hugh,  mention  of,  as  Captain 
Mercer,  14;  at  Morris  house  with  Washington, 
Putnam,  and  Greene,  121. 

Mifflin,  General,  mention  of,  27,  28;  letter  to 
General  Heath,  90. 

Military  company,  the,  statement  of  Mr.  Edwin 
Bradbrook,  181;  story  of  Mr.  George  Luckey, 
182. 

Milliken,  Seth,  bought  the  Mansion  in  1887,  224. 

Missionary  Society  for  Seamen  in  the  City  and 
Port  of  New  York,  the,  a  beneficiary  under 
Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

Mitchel,  Uriah,  post-rider  to  the  New  York 
Convention,  102. 

Montresor,  Colonel  James,  extracts  from  the 
diary  of,  16. 

Montresor,  Mrs.  Colonel  James,  went  to  a  concert 
in  New  York  City,  16. 

Montresor,  Captain  John,  son  of  Colonel  James, 
16;  arrives  at  the  lines  with  a  "flag"  and  a  let- 
ter for  General  Washington,  JO. 

Montresor's  Island,  mention  of,  40;  preparations 
being  made  for  an  attack  on,  50;  expedition 
starts  for,  67;  failure  of  expedition,  68;  trouble 
between  sentinels,  89;  battery  on,  90. 

Morgan,  Dr.  John,  Director  of  Hospitals,  33; 
member  of  Washington's  staff,  34;  a  civilian 
without  military  rank,  35. 

Morris,  Rev.  Adolphus,  grandson  of  Roger,  21. 

Morris,  Amherst,  son  of  Roger,  17. 

Morris,  Mrs.  Amherst,  writes  of  family  papers,  3; 
in  the  Herefordshire  Magazine,  13;  says  Wash- 
ington secured  an  interview  with  Mary  Philipse, 
IS;  supplies  some  of  the  letters  of  Roger  Morris 
to  his  wife,  20;  part  of  letter  from,  21;  her  state- 
ment about  the  Washington  letter  to  Mrs. 
Philipse,  93. 

Morris,  Henry  Gage,  son  of  Roger,  Rear-Admiral 
in  British  navy,  and  the  iconoclast  of  the  family, 
21. 


Index 


^53 


Morris,  Joanna,  daughter  of  Roger,  17. 

Morris,  Colonel  Lewis,  mentioned  by  von  Kraft 
as  a  "Rebel  Colonel,"  131. 

Morris,  Mariah,  daughter  of  Roger,  17. 

Morris,  Roger,  builder,  l;  owner  of  a  yacht,  3, 
4,  6,  7;  description  of  his  "seat"  (Harlem 
Heights),  9,  11;  Aide-de-Camp  to  Braddock, 
13 ;  described  by  Joseph  Chew,  14;  his  marriage, 
15,  16;  his  military  record  from  Colonial  History 
of  New  York,  17;  owner  of  the  "Free  Mason's 
"  Arms,"  18,  19;  he  sails  for  England,  20;  in- 
spector of  claims  of  refugees,  21;  his  kindly 
character,  22,  23;  in  London  when  Washington 
occupied  the  house,  24;  mentioned  in  the  mar- 
riage settlement  of  Mary  Philipse,  238,  240, 
241,  242. 

Morris,  Mrs.  Roger,  her  ancestral  home  at  Yon- 
kers,  3;  mention  of,  16;  related  to  Oliver  De 
Lancey,  18;  with  her  children  at  Mount  Morris, 
20;  leaves  her  home  never  to  return,  24;  alone 
with  her  children,  88.   See  also  Philipse,  Mary. 

Morris  house,  construction  of,  4;  to  be  sold,  ad- 
vertisement, 9;  when  Washington  came  to  it, 
24;  ready  for  Washington  on  Saturday  after- 
noon, September  14,  28,  29;  Washington's  staff 
lodged  at,  35;  officers  watched  the  fire  in  New 
York  City  from,  41;  a  dull  time  at,  84;  aban- 
doned as  headquarters,  85;  in  military  use  when 
Washington  came,  88;  threat  to  cannonade,  89; 
suitably  located  for  headquarters  of  picket,  90; 
General  Mifflin  to  remain  at,  90;  most  eventful 
day  in  the  history  of,  1 14;  visited  by  Washing- 
ton,  Putnam,   Greene,   and   Mercer,    121;   its 

.    British  period,  headquarters  of  Sir  Henry  Clin- 

'  ton,  128;  headquarters  of  Lieutenant-General 
von  Knyphausen,  130;  General  von  Lossburg 
at,  131;  sales  and  transfers  of  house  and  farm 
after  the   Revolution,   134;   in   1787  Calumet 
Hall,  13s;  advertised  for  sale,  136;  Washington 
gives  dinner  at,  136;  bought  by  Stephen  Jumel, 
152;  was  an  aristocrat  among  houses,  223;  en- 
titled to  three  names,  224.    See  also  Jumel 
Mansion. 
Morse,  Jedediah,  author  of  Annals  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  (1824),  mentions  Hale,  58. 
Mortars,  "of  solid  metal,"  from  Boston,  70. 
"Mount  Morris,"  name  of  country  seat  of  Roger 

Morris,  11;  mention  of,  20. 
Moylan,     Colonel    Stephen,    Aide-de-Camp    at 
Cambridge,     33;    Quartermaster-General    on 
Washington's  staff,  34;  lodgings  near  "Kort- 
right's  house,"  35. 

Nagal,  John,  named  in  the  Carrol  deed,  234. 
Napoleon   relics,    the,   shown   for   charity,    154; 

bought  from  Aladame  de  la  Pagerie,  155. 
Newburgh,  mention  of,  39. 
New  Rochelle,  British  camp  near,  82. 
New  York  City,  what  the  citizens  thought  of  it. 


12;  evacuation  of,  25;  the  great  fire  in,  41;  its 
post-office  at  Dobb's  Ferry,  103;  church  bells 
and  door  knockers  removed  from,  no;  the  first 
directory  of,  1 3 5 ;  its  society,  152;  bought  Jumel 
Mansion  in  1903,  225;  appropriates  $12,000  for 
repairs  and  restoration,  225;  employed  archi- 
tects of  no  professional  standing,  226. 

New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  extract  from,  9. 

New  York  Historical  Society,  letters  not  in  the 
possession  of,  64;  publisher  of  diaries  of  Kemble 
and  von  Kraft,  128. 

New  York  Institution  for  the  Blind,  the,  a  bene- 
ficiary under  Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

New  York  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb,  the,  a  beneficiary  under 
Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

New  York  Journal  and  General  Advertiser,  extract 
from,  20. 

New  York  Journal  and  Weekly  Register,  advertise- 
ment in,  of  the  Albany  stages,  135. 

New  York  Orphan  Asylum,  the,  a  beneficiary 
under  Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

New  York  Packet,  advertisement  in,  136. 

Newell,  Asa,  whose  store  George  Washington 
Bowen  entered  as  a  clerk  in  1815,  213. 

Niger,  the,  anchored  with  la  Brune  in  "Helgatte," 
89. 

Nightingale,  Ann  Eliza,  daughter  of  Lavinia 
Ballou,  159. 

Nitschke,  Mademoiselle,  the  governess,  her  story 
of  the  ghost,  209. 

Nodine,  Henry,  a  servant  of  the  Jumels,  158;  still 
in  service,  159. 

Northrup,  Ann,  a  servant  of  Madame  Jumel  in 
1842,  176;  saw  the  table  with  the  broken  orna- 
ments in  that  year,  177. 

O'Conor,  Charles,  representing  the  interests  of 
Burr,  173;  one  of  Madame  Jumel's  imaginary 
guests,  187;  entertained  no  respect  for  Nelson 
Chase,  209;  associated  with  James  C.  Carter, 
in  defense  of  the  Chase  heirs,  without  retainer, 
2H;  his  fee,  212;  his  striking  figure  in  the  court- 
room, 216;  examined  David  Hull  for  three  days, 
219;  called  the  plaintiff  "you  bastard,"  221. 

O'Conor,  Mrs.  Charles,  her  statement  about  the 
banquet  table,  177. 

Odell,  Abraham,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236. 

Odell,  Jacob,  post-rider  to  the  New  York  Con- 
vention, 102. 

Odell,  Jonathan,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236. 

Odell,  Margaret,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236. 

Odell,  Rabeckh,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236. 

Old  Gaol-House,  in  Providence,  torn  down  by  a 
mob,  139;  a  vile  place,  223. 

"Old  Warren  Road"  Jonathan  Clarke  and  family 
lived  in  a  hut  on,  142;  family  left  hut  on,  143. 

Oliver,  Rev.  Thomas  F.,  took  Sally  Ingraham 
from  the  Providence  Workhouse,  140. 


2-54 


Index 


Ormsbee,  Mary,  eighty-four  years  old,  witness 
for  George  Washington  Bowen,  219. 

Osgood,  Samuel,  first  Postmaster-General  under 
Washington,  170. 

Pagerie,  Madame  la  Comtesse  Henri  Tascher  de 
la,  from  whom  the  Napoleon  relics  were  bought, 
15s;  framed  announcement  of  the  death  of  her 
husband  on  Madame  Jumel's  wall,  187. 

Palermo,  Duke  of,  one  of  Madame  Jumel's  imag- 
inary guests,  187;  visited  her  "arrayed  in  laces 
and  diamonds"  and  leaving  "kissed  her  hand 
six  times,"  192. 

Palfry,  William,  Colonel  and  Aide-de-Camp  at 
Cambridge,  133;  Paymaster-General  on  Wash- 
ington's staff,  34. 

Parker,  Miss,  her  story  of  a  visit  to  Madame 
Jumel,  188. 

Parkinson,  Leonard,  bought  Morris  house  and 
farm  in  1799,  134. 

Parsons,  Brigadier-General  Samuel  H.,  disgrace- 
ful behavior  of  his  brigade,  28;  in  General 
Heath's  division,  40. 

Peale,  Charles  Wilson,  painter  of  Washington,  39. 

Pell's  Point,  fighting  begins  at,  84. 

Pennefeather,  Lieutenant,  actor  at  the  Theater 
Royal,  134. 

Percy,  Earl,  his  attack  on  Fort  Washington,  114; 
remained  in  authority  on  the  Heights,  125; 
orders  his  engineer  Sauthier  to  map  the 
Heights,  125. 

Perry,  Ichabod,  his  experience  at  capture  of  Fort 
Washington,  122;  discovers  a  Hessian  behind  a 
cedar  bush,  123;  his  two  companions  lose  their 
heads  as  they  leave  the  fort,  124. 

Pery,  Eliza  Jumel,  named  in  Madame  Jumel's 
will,  204;  in  nightly  terror  of  Madame  Jumel's 
ghost,  209;  trembling  with  fright,  210. 

Pery,  Matilde  Elizabeth  Georgiana,  named  in 
Madame  Jumel's  will,  204;  to  study  for  half  an 
hour  and  then  play  for  half  an  hour,  209;  slept 
through  the  ghostly  visits,  210. 

Pery,  M.  Paul  Guillaume  Raymond,  a  husband 
for  Eliza,  177;  occupied  Washington  bedroom, 
208;  a  gentleman  of  leisure,  208;  leaped  as  if  he 
had  been  shot,  at  sound  of  rapping  under  his 
chair,  210. 

Philadelphia  First  Troop  of  Cavalry,  had  first  flag 
with  thirteen  stripes,  on  piece  of  chintz,  37,  38. 

Philipse,  Frederick,  mention  of,  3,  15,  16,  17; 
arrested  by  Washington,  88;  permitted  to  leave 
Middletown,  no. 

Philipse,  Mrs.  Frederick,  mention  of,  16,  24;  her 
letter  to  Colonel  Webls,  92;  change  in  spelling 
name,  92;  complains  that  soldiers  are  driving 
off  her  stock,  92. 

Philipse,  Mary,  first  mistress  of  the  house,  v; 
"The  Charming  Polly"  visiting  her  sister, 
Mrs.    Beverly    Robinson,    13;    mentioned    in 


Joseph  Chew's  letter  to  Washington,  14;  her 
marriage,  IS;  to  have  a  rival  as  mistress  of  the 
Morris  house,  24;  an  imaginary  guest  of  Ma- 
dame Jumel,  187;  marriage  settlement  of,  238, 
240,  241,  242.  See  also  Morris,  Mrs.  Roger. 

Philipse  Manor,  at  Yonkers,  15,  24;  last  Christ- 
mas at.  III. 

Phipps,  Captain,  one  of  the  actors  at  the  Theater 
Royal  in  John  Street,  134. 

Picturesque  Rutland,  extract  from,  145. 

Pinel,  Rosa,  offers  tickets  and  a  cavalier,  who  will 
be  in  uniform,  161. 

Place  Vendome,  No.  16,  the  home  of  Madame 
Jumel  on  her  return  to  Paris,  161. 

Pond,  Captain,  carries  Hale  in  his  sloop  to 
Huntington,  59. 

Post  Boy,  the,  2 ;  extract  from,  3 ;  mention  of,  4. 

Post-riders,  trotting  out  from  the  gates  of  Morris 
house,  102;  controversy  over  routes  of,  106; 
Uriah  Mitchel  and  Samuel  Dyckman  em- 
ployed, 108;  sixteen  shillings  per  day  the  wage 
of,  109. 

Power  of  attorney,  the,  given  Madame  Jumel  by 
her  husband,  165. 

Prescott,  Major-General,  mentioned  for  exchange, 

52- 

"Presenting  the  Eagle"  at  the  Champs  de  Mars, 
201. 

Providence,  city  of,  in  1769,  138;  some  of  the 
streets  of  old,  143;  George  Washington  Bowen 
the  most  noted  figure  on  the  streets  of,  144. 

Providence  Town  Council,  record  of,  138;  Mar- 
garet Fairchild  is  brought  before,  139;  records 
of,  140;  proceedings  of,  141. 

Putnam,  General  Israel,  Washington  breakfasts 
with,  26;  possible  to  withdraw  his  division,  28; 
he  forms  the  southern  front  of  the  lines,  40; 
visits  Morris  house  with  Washington,  121. 

Putnam,  Colonel  Rufus,  25;  new  appointment  on 
Washington's  staff,  33;  with  rank  of  Colonel 
and  Chief  Engineer,  34;  extract  from  Memoirs 
of,  86;  on  reconnoissance  with  Colonel  Reed, 
86;  reports  to  General  Washington,  late  at 
night,  87. 

Quick,  Abraham,  a  famous  New  York  carriage- 
maker,  150. 

Randall,  Moury,  witness  for  George  Washington 
Bowen,  218;  peddled  peaches  at  Mother  Bal- 
lou's  and  remembered  "little  George  when  he 
was  running  about  the  door  in  a  nightgown," 
218. 

Randall,  Stephen,  schoolmate  of  and  witness  for 
George  Washington  Bowen,  218. 

Rangers,  Knowlton's,  at  battle  of  Harlem 
Heights,  30. 

Rawlins,  Colonel,  in  command  at  Fort  Tryon, 


Index 


^55 


Redoubt  No.  8,  in  Morrisania,  near  the  present 
New  York  University,  131. 

Reed,  Joseph,  writes  to  his  wife,  26;  encounter 
with  Ebenezer  Leffingwell,  his  account  of,  32; 
intercedes  for  pardon  of,  33;  made  Adjutant- 
General  of  Continental  Army,  33;  on  list  of 
Washington's  staff,  34;  brigade-major's  report 
to,  36;  rides  from  headquarters  to  meet  Captain 
Montresor,  50;  advises  General  Heath  to  bring 
down  the  stranded  vessels,  80;  goes  on  recon- 
noissance  with  Colonel  Putnam,  86. 

Revolutionary  history,  errors  in,  25;  indefinite 
knowledge  of  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights  a 
commentary  on,  29. 

Richards,  Lieutenant  Samuel,  commanded  a 
burial  party  at  Harlem  Heights,  29;  his  account 
of  burying  the  dead  at  Battle  of  Harlem 
Heights,  31. 

Richardson,  Colonel,  his  Maryland  Regiment  at 
Harlem  Heights,  30. 

Rind,  Timothy,  of  Providence,  maternal  uncle  of 
Madame  Jumel,  138. 

Rivington's  printing  office,  at  comer  of  Queen  and 
Pearl  Streets,  132. 

Robertson,  Major-General,  his  efforts  to  put  out 
the  great  fire  in  New  York  City,  46;  his  rescue 
of  two  of  these  incendiaries  from  the  enraged 
populace,  52;  and  reserved  them  for  the  hand 
of  deliberate  justice,  64. 

Robinson,  Beverly,  married  to  sister  of  Mary 
Philipse,  13;  writes  to  Washington,  14;  country 
seat  at  Dobb's  Ferry,  17;  mentioned  in  mar- 
riage settlement  of  Mary  Philipse,  238,  240, 
241,  242. 

Robinson,  Mrs.  Beverly,  sister  of  Mary  Philipse, 
13;  reported  well  in  Joseph  Chew's  postscript  to 
Washington,  14;  again  so  reported  in  second 
postscript,  15;  mentioned  as  Beverly  Robin- 
son's wife  Joanna,  16;  "Johanna  Philipse"  in 
marriage  settlement  of  Mary  Philipse,  238, 
240,  241,  242. 

Roebuck  and  Phenix,  pass  Fort  Washington,  78; 
account  of  passage,  79;  General  Washington  to 
General  Schuyler  on  the  exploit  of,  80;  passage 
of  forts  part  of  General  Howe's  plan  to  capture 
the  American  Army,  81. 

Rook,  Major,  author  of  principal  account  of  the 
great  fire  in  New  York  City,  45. 

Royal  Highlanders,  under  General  Leslie  at  battle 
of  Harlem  Heights,  31. 

Ruggles,  Philo  T.,  divorce  trial  before,  173. 

Rutland,  the  Clarke  family  lived  (1795-97)  in  a 
hovel  at,  145. 

Sabine,  in  Loyalists  of  the  American  Revolution, 
explains  the  Astor  transaction,  112. 

Sage,  Colonel  Comfort,  president  of  the  Sage 
court  martial,  sitting  in  Morris  farmhouse, 
September  39,  95,  98. 


Saint-Memin,  who  executed  the  portrait  No.  715, 
of  Madame  de  la  Croix,  147;  his  method  in 
portraiture,  148. 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  Prince  Street,  the  Ju- 
mel marriage  at,  151;  Stephen  Jumel  buried  in 
ground  of,  169. 

St.  James  Chronicle,  extracts  from,  48,  64. 

St.  James  Gazette,  extracts  from,  44,  53. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  New  York  City,  escaped  the 
great  fire,  46. 

Sargent,  Colonel,  in  General  Heath's  division,  40. 

Sauthier,  Claude  Joseph,  ordered  to  map  Harlem 
Heights,  125. 

Sauthier's  map,  reference  to,  120;  ordered  made 
by  Earl  Percy,  125;  its  title-page,  126. 

Schmidt,  Major-General,  ordered  to  Fort  Wash- 
ington, 125. 

Schuyler,  General  Philip,  letter  to  General  Wash- 
ington, 27;  letter  to  General  Washington,  send- 
ing the  Indians,  199. 

Scotch  Johnny's,  New  York  restaurant,  16. 

Scott,  General  John  Morin  in  General  Heath's  di- 
vision, 40. 

Sha-hase-ga-o  chapter  D.A.R.,  Reminiscences  of 
Ichabod  Perry  published  by,  122. 

Shaffer,  Mr.  Chauncey,  attorney  for  George 
Washington  Bowen,  215;  remarkable  words  of, 
in  opening  the  case,  216. 

Shaw,  Neal,  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the  Carrol 
deed,  236. 

Sherman,  Roger,  member  of  Congressional  Com- 
mittee on  Conduct  of  the  War,  69. 

Shipman,  William  D.,  presiding  judge  in  the  case  of 
Bowen  W.Chase,  21 5;  his  charge  to  the  jury,  221. 

Silliman,  Colonel  Gold  S.,  extract  from  letter  of, 
to  his  wife,  36;  letters  to  his  wife  about  the 
great  fire  in  New  York  City,  51;  invited  to 
dinner  with  General  Washington,  72;  letter  to 
his  wife,  73. 

Smallwood,  Colonel,  his  report  to  the  Maryland 
Convention  on  the  retreat  of  the  14th  of  Sep- 
tember, 28. 

Smith,  John  Howard,  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Intercession,  187;  helps  Madame  Jumel  make 
her  will,  203. 

Smith,  William,  delegate  to  the  Convention  from 
Suffolk  County,  New  York,  103. 

Smith,  William,  member  of  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil, 18,  19. 

Smith,  William,  officer  in  a  New  England  regi- 
ment, taken  at  the  great  fire  in  New  York  City, 
with  a  match  in  his  hand  and  executed  on  the 
spot,  44;  mentioned  by  Samuel  Curwen,  in  the 
St.  James  Gazette,  53. 

Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Destitute  Children  of 
Seamen,  a  beneficiary  under  Madame  Jumel's 
will,  203. 

Society  of  the  New  York  Hospital,  a  beneficiary 
under  Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 


256 


Index 


Soule,  Mrs.  Captain  William,  took  Susannah  In- 
graham  from  the  Providence  Workhouse,  140. 

Spencer,  General,  division  occupied  bluffs  facing 
Harlem  River,  40. 

Spuyten,  Duyvil,  origin  of  name  explained  by 
Ebenezer  Withington,  79. 

Stamford,  Hale  crosses  from,  to  Huntington,  45. 

Stanley,  Captain,  one  of  the  actors  at  the  Theater 
Royal  in  Johns  Street,  134. 

Staten  Island,  in  sight  from  the  Morris  house,  10. 

Steers,  Inspector,  statement  of,  183. 

Stephen,  the,  M.  Jumel's  brig,  150. 

Stever,  Mary  Marilla,  adopted  by  Madame 
Jumel,  171;  who  went  away  between  the  time 
Stephen  Jumel  was  hurt  and  the  time  when  he 
died,  176;  afterwards  Mrs.  Mary  M.  Mumford, 
219. 

Stewart,  I.  W.,  author  of  the  Life  of  Nathan  Hale, 
V,  his  work  rated  by  the  American  Library 
Ass'n,  58. 

Stirling,  Lord,  Brigadier-General,  mentioned  for 
exchange,  52;  put  ashore  from  a  British  ship, 
77;  a  guest  at  headquarters,  78. 

Storm's,  Major  Abraham,  Ebenezer  Hazzard  to 
be  found  at,  106. 

Stoughtonburgh,  Isaac,  commissioner  of  for- 
feiture, after  peace  was  declared,  134. 

Stuart,  Gilbert,  his  portrait  of  Washington,  39. 

Stuart,  Miss  Mary,  sister  of  Gilbert,  also  painter 
of  Washington,  39. 

Suffolk  County,  not  always  able  to  send  its  dele- 
gates, 103. 

Sugar  House  Prison,  on  Crown  Street,  132. 

Sullivan,  Major-General,  mentioned  for  exchange, 
52;  arrived  at  headquarters,  70. 

Summary  History  of  New  England  and  General 
Sketch  of  the  American  War,  published  by  Han- 
nah Adams  at  Dedham,  Mass.,  56. 

Suze,  Madame  la  Marquise  de  la,  wishes  to  con- 
vert Madame  Jumel  to  Catholicism,  162;  more 
letters  on  the  same  subject,  163. 

Sweet,  Joseph,  witness  for  George  Washington 
Bowen,  at  ninety,  218. 

Sylvan  Terrace,  on  what  was  the  carriage  drive 
to  the  King's  Bridge  Road,  124;  a  serious 
menace  to  the  Mansion,  229. 

Tallmadge,  George  Clinton,  married  Miss  Julia 
Clinton,  170. 

Tallmadge,  J.  M.,  a  guest  of  the  Clinton  family 
in  the  Mansion,  170. 

Thatcher,  James,  author  of  History  of  the  Revolu- 
tion (1823),  58;  story  of  Hale  ignored  by,  63. 

Thayer,  Major,  whom  George  Washington 
Bowen  succeeded  in  the  grocery  business,  214. 

Theater  Royal,  the,  in  John  Street,  133;  receipts 
devoted  to  chanty,  134. 

Thompson's  History  of  Long  Island  contains  brief 
story  of  Hale's  capture,  60. 


Tiebout,  Mark,  named  in  Carrol  deed,  234. 

Tilghman,  Lieutenant  Tench,  Volunteer  aide  on 
Washington's  staff,  33;  favorite  aide,  35;  letter 
of,  to  his  father,  51 ;  goes  down  to  the  lines  with 
General  Washington's  reply  to  General  Howe, 
S3;  suggestion  of,  to  William  Duer,  55;  letter  to 
Egbert  Benson,  76;  Report  to  the  Convention 
on  the  Roebuck  and  Phenix,  78;  writes  to  Rob- 
ert R.  Livingston,  80;  writes  to  Duer,  85. 

Tompkins,  Governor,  mention  of,  39. 

Tories,  two  thirds  of  the  property  of  the  City  of 
New  York  belongs  to,  42. 

Town  Council  of  Providence,  see  Providence  Town 
Council. 

Tranchel,  Eliza  Jumel,  daughter  of  Polly  Clarke, 
and  named  by  the  court  as  one  of  the  heirs  of 
Madame  Jumel,  204. 

Trevelyan,  Sir  George  Otto,  says  Washington 
had  but  three  aides,  34. 

Trinity  Church,  in  flames,'^  46;  dress  parade  in 
front  of  the  ruins  of,  132. 

Trumbull,  Jonathan,  Governor,  mention  of,  27; 
Washington  writes  to,  50;  Washington's  strong- 
est support  in  New  England,  72. 

Trumbull,  Colonel  John,  pictures  of  Washington 
at  forty-four,  38. 

Trumbull,  Colonel  Joseph,  Commissary-General 
on  Washington's  staff,  34;  ill-feeling  toward 
Colonel  Reed,  72;  notifies  Convention  of  retreat 
from  New  York,  107. 

Trustees  of  the  Fund  for  Aged  and  Infirm  Clergy- 
men of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
Diocese  of  New  York,  the,  named  as  beneficiary 
under  Madame  Jumel's  will,  203. 

Tryon  County,  description  of,  103. 

Tudor,  Captain  William,  judge  advocate,  96; 
captured  at  Fort  Washington,  1 18. 

Turtle  Bay,  landing  of  the  British  at,  28. 

Tygard,  James  Wallace,  the  present  claimant  of 
Jumel  Mansion,  222. 

Underground  passage  to  the  Harlem  River,  the 
fable  of,  199. 

Union  Jack,  on  American  flag  at  Morris  house,  37. 

United  States  Supreme  Court,  early  history  of 
Betsy  Bowen  brought  as  evidence  in,  iv;  case  of 
Bowen  vs.  Chase  carried  to,  by  a  writ  of  error,  221. 

Van  Cortlandt,  Philip,  a  Commissioner  of  For- 
feiture after  peace  was  declared,  134. 

Vandervoort,  John,  the  baker  in  Christopher 
Street,  159. 

Vandervort,  Reuben,  the  second  claimant  of 
Jumel  Mansion,  222. 

Van  Lear,  A.  J.  F.,  archivist  at  Albany,  242. 

Van  Twiller,  Wouter,  mention  of,  12. 

Variau,  Richard,  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the 
Carrol  deed,  234. 

Vermilye,  Gerritye,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236. 


Index 


^S7 


Vermilye,  John,  signs  Carrol  deed,  2,  233,  236.  _ 

Vernon,  Marquise  de,  declines  three  dinner  invi- 
tations from  Madame  Jumel,  162. 

Vileray,  Sauveur  de  la,  Secretary  of  the  CEuvre 
de  Calvarie,  invites  Madame  Jumel,  162. 

Von  Kraft,  Sergeant,  John  Charles  Philip,  first 
mention  of,  121;  his  remarkable  diary,  128; 
made  free  Corporal  in  one  of  the  Hessian  regi- 
ments, 130;  his  diary  continues,  131. 

Von  Lossburg,  Lieutenant  General,  his  head- 
quarters at  Morris  house,  131. 

Waldron,  Johannis,  named  in  Carrol  deed,  234. 

Waldron,  Samuel,  neighbor  of  Jan  Kiersen,  2. 

Wallace,  Alexander  Hamilton,  his  statement,  174. 

Wallace,  Hugh,  of  the  Legislative  Council,  18,  19. 

Warren,  Mrs.  Mercy,  author  of  "Rise,  Progress 
and  Termination  of  the  American  Revolution," 
58;  ignores  story  of  Nathan  Hale,  63. 

Washington,  George,  the  most  distinguished  occu- 
pant of  the  Morris  house,  1 1 ;  a  visitor  at  Bev- 
erly Robinson's,  13;  Joseph  Chew's  letter  to, 
14;  no  proposal  of  marriage  to  Mary  Philipse, 
15;  Morris  house  occupied  on  his  arrival  by 
officers  of  General  Heath's  pickets,  24;  break- 
fasts with  General  Putnam,  26;  leaves  New 
York  City,  27;  rides  from  Morris  house  to  meet 
landing  of  British,  28;  goes  to  battle  of  Harlem 
Heights,  29;  his  report  to  Congress  on,  30; 
members  of  his  staff,  33;  who  may  give  his  or- 
ders, 34;  writes  to  Reed  about  Webb,  34;  his 
military  family,  35;  dines  at  three  o'clock,  36; 
description  of  on  piece  of  chintz,  37;  the  various 
portraits  of,  39;  inspects  General  Heath's  camp, 
41;  asks  Congress  if  he  shall  burn  New  York, 
42;  promises  to  take  every  means  to  prevent 
it,  43;  conclusion  of  letter  to  Governor  Trum- 
bull, 50;  his  reply  to  General  Howe,  53;  gives 
consent  for  expedition  to  Montresor's  Island, 
67;  discharges  two  Connecticut  regiments,  69; 
inspecting  troops,  71;  invites  Colonels  Silliman 
and  Douglas  to  dinner,  72;  his  compliments  to 
Commandant  Douglas,  73;  not  to  be  surprised 
by  Howe,  74;  offenses  abhorred  by  him,  75;  his 
barge  fired  on  from  Fort  Washington,  81;  calls 
a  Council  of  War  "at  or  near  Kings  Bridge," 
82;  arrives  at  Frog's  Neck,  84;  his  headquarters 
at  Kings  Bridge,  85 ;  starts  for  White  Plains,  87; 
sends  Frederick  Philipse  prisoner  to  Middle- 
town,  Conn.,  88;  pleasant  relations  with  the 
family  at  Yonkers,  91 ;  presents  his  compliments 
to  Mrs.  Morris,  93 ;  letter  to  Congress  on  evils 
of  plundering,  98;  at  Fort  Lee,  114;  crosses 
Hudson  to  Morris  house,  121;  gives  dinner  to 
cabinet  and  ladies  in  Morris  house,  136;  had 
been  entertained  at  the  Golden  Ball  Inn,  143; 
when   everything   was   Washington,    144;   an 


imaginary  guest  of  Madame  Jumel,  187;  his  let- 
ter to  General  Schuyler,  200;  his  occupation  con- 
ferred new  honor  upon  the  Morris  house,  223. 

Washington,  William  Augustine,  portrait  of,  by 
Saint-Memin,  148;  this  portrait  given  in  list  of 
Saint-Memin's  drawings  as  that  of  Bushrod 
Washington,  148. 

Watts,  John,  of  the  Council,  mention  of,  18,  19; 
sails  for  England,  20;  one  of  the  condemned 
felons,  112;  orders  Carrol  deed  to  be  recorded, 
237;  marriage  settlement  of  Mary  Philipse  re- 
corded at  the  request  of,  242. 

Webb,  Samuel  Blatchley,  mention  of,  25;  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel and  Aide-de-Camp  on  Washing- 
ton's staff,  34;  Washington's  view  of  him  in 
letter  to  Joseph  Reed,  34;  writes  to  General 
Heath,  77;  handles  mail  for  Philipse  family,  91. 

Weeden,  the  baker,  to  whom  George  Washington 
Bowen  was  apprenticed,  213. 

Weedon,  Colonel  G.,  his  regiment  at  battle  of 
Harlem  Heights,  30;  first  session  of  his  court 
martial,  77;  dates  of  his  court  martial,  96. 

Weems,  Rev.  Mr.,  author  of  juvenile  history  of 
Washington,  v. 

West,  Benjamin,  his  portrait  of  Roger  Morris,  21. 

Westchester,  roads  obstructed  and  bridges  torn 
up,  40. 

Wetmore,  William  C,  one  of  the  administrators 
of  the  estate  of  Madame  Jumel,  204. 

White,  Henry,  of  the  Legislative  Council,  18,  19. 

White  House,  the,  Morris  farmhouse,  2. 

White,  Wright,  a  carpenter  who  cut  the  fire 
buckets,  46. 

Wilbur,  Smith,  with  whom  George  Washington 
Bowen  started  to  learn  to  be  a  farmer,  213. 

Will  of  Madame  Jumel,  beneficiaries  named  in, 
203;  set  aside,  204. 

Williams,  Major,  the  hero  of  tragedy  at  the 
Theater  Royal,  134. 

Williams,  Mrs.  Catherine  R.,  met  Madame  Ju- 
mel at  the  house  of  Colonel  McCumber,  148; 
was  dead  at  the  time  of  the  trial  of  Bowen  vs. 
Chase  —  her  testimony  read,  218. 

Williamton,  North  Carolina,  last  home  of  Jona- 
than and  Phebe  Clarke,  146. 

Wisner,  Captain  John,  cowardly  behavior  of,  68. 

Withington,  Ebenezer,  diary  of,  70;  his  account  of 
the  British  vessels  passing  the  forts,  79;  con- 
tinues his  diary,  81;  more  of  the  diary,  82. 

Wyatt,  Henry,  Polly  Bowen  living  at  house  of, 
140. 

Wyck,  Isaac,  in  stage  operation  with  Talmage 
Hall  and  John  Kenney,  135. 

Wyeth,  John,  printer  of  Graydon's  Memoirs,  114. 

Yates,  Abraham,  first  president  of  the  Conven- 
tion, 104. 


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